Bath trouble

[Siobhan]

Rocky is afraid of the mister. He won't take a bath in a dishtub, the bathroom sink, the kitchen sink or the bathtub. In summer, he would hear a lawn mower and take a sort-of bath in his water dish (which is obviously too small!) and ignore the dishtub, the baking dish, and every other sort of container I could dig up to offer as a more appropriately-sized bath. Now it's not summer and he hasn't taken a bath at all without hearing a lawn mower. The vacuum would occasionally trigger bathing, but we got rid of our area rug so I don't use a vacuum anymore, either. He was abused in the past and we suspect getting sprayed with water was one of the things they did to him, and that's probably why he's afraid of being misted, no matter how I try to reassure him.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm trying to gently acclimate him to being misted but that could take months and might never succeed. Half the others love being misted and the other half love tubs and they all love baths, so I've never met a bird who didn't want a bath before.

 

[ToMang07]

This was my solution.

 

[Siobhan]

He's far too nervous for something like that right now. This is a 'too who was abused and terrified by at least two previous homes. Even walking into the bathroom is a major step, and one which we've only just accomplished. He trembles and I have to soothe and reassure him. I don't know what they did to him, but he thinks I'm going to do it when we go in that room.

 

[Mimsy01]

Have you tried a shallow platter? That would give him control on the bath and doesn't make any noise. Maybe put a rubber mat in it so he can stand easily in it, or some heavy rocks he can stand on. Is he interested in what you do? Wash yourself from it and see if he finds that intriguing perhaps?

 

[Siobhan]

I've tried that. Splashing in the water, acting like it's the most fun I've ever had, drizzling a bit on him. He'll allow the drizzling. He'll watch the splashing and look at me as if he thinks I've lost my mind. He won't get close to the water, or any closer than he has to to stay on my arm. Sometimes he starts edging away and trying to climb onto my shoulder to get further from it. I've left a container of water on his cage top for hours and gone away to see if he'll go in on his own. Nope. Tried it inside his cage, in case he likes that more. Nope. Tried running water in a trickle. Tried running it a little higher than a trickle. Cold? Warm? Tepid? No, no and no. We've taken to telling him he's a dirty bird. LOL I know it took a while for the cockatiels to get used to the misting and now they see the bottle and come a-running. I keep hoping it's just taking longer and eventually Rocky will learn to like misting.

 

[Mimsy01]

What does he like? Anything that can go in water? fishing for veggies or fruit maybe?

If he puts up with the drizzling at least you have a starting point. Maybe he'll realize that water is good if you just keep increasing it.

 

[ToMang07]

Well, I think it comes down to (assuming you can't coax him) to you either let him not bathe, or you find a way and force it.

Willow refused to take a bath in anything other than her water bowl. I tried misting her, but I just ended up with her frantically climbing up my shoulders and behind my head, or her flying back to her cage.

I bought the perch, placed it by her cage in the window, left it there for a couple days. Put her on it a few times, let her get off. worked on bringing her into the bathroom (at first she'd jump and fly to her cage) and finally combined the two.

Placed the perch in the bath tub, brought her in and placed her on it. Slowly closed the curtain, while petting/reassuring her, same while turning the water on and letting it come up to temp, (while in the shower with her) then sprayed myself first, then her feet, let her touch the sprayer, then slowly worked my way up from her tail.

Now it's a system, right into the shower, no problem. She goes first, stays on the perch until I'm dried off, then she goes into a towel and she gets snuggled semi-against her will for awhile. Once she's moderately dry I leave her on her cage until the grumpiness goes away, lol

 

[happy410]

Happy takes his shower with me or hubby. We use a mister in the shower. He is beginning to step up and let's me hold him under the shower head. His previous owner only bathed him in the summer, with the water hose.��
We had to work with him at first but now he loves his showers.

 

[AnnBrown]

Raz is scared of the shower and does not seem to understand what to do when I offer her pan of water but she has grown to really like taking a shower when I do. I put a perch in the shower and I just let her hang out.

 

[Siobhan]

He makes pellet soup, as many parrots do. If I could find a bigger container, that would hang on the bars of his cage, perhaps next to his water dish, and then run the vacuum even if we don't have a rug, maybe I can gradually get him moved to a tub bath.

 

[MonicaMc]

What about ice water?

What about finding videos or sound recordings of rain?

What about finding videos of other cockatoos bathing?

If he's afraid of the bathroom, what about placing treats inside the bathroom and letting him go in there himself?

Have you tried running the shower first before taking him in there? Maybe even singing and dancing your way into the bathroom?