Bathing

[choreokyeelove]

Yesterday my GCC Cho-Rok decided to take a bath in her water bowl. She was flapping around like crazy and kept dipping her head into the water and was splashing water everywhere and pretty soon she was all wet but that didnt stop her. At first I thought she (I don't know Cho-Rok's actual gender but I'm used to calling Cho-Rok a she) was mad that we put her back in the cage but I started to worry and think that something was wrong with her since I have never seen a bird bathing before so I had no clue. I do know that conures love to bathe and I tried to put her near water a couple days ago and show her how fun it would be but she ran away. I even put her on the water bowl so she could touch the water but it didn't work. Anyways back to the story so I was starting to have a panic mode and decided to look up how birds bathe on YouTube just in case it might be that and sure enough I saw another conure doing the same thing out Cho-Rok was doing with her water bowl. After that she just calmly starts to groom herself. We tried to show her again a different bowl instead of her water bowl so she wouldn't keep taking baths in her water bowl but it didn't work. So I was wondering if there was a way to teach her not to keep using her water bowl for bathes but the other bowl instead?
I also have another question. I was wondering how to teach her how to step up on places other than her cage because once she's out she refuse to step up and wants to stay on the couch. In her cage though she will willingly step up and starts screaming for attention and bobbing her head for attention but once she's out she refuses to get off the couch.

 

[MollyGreenCheeks]

If you have another dish "spot" you can move the dish to that may throw her off but you still want to make sure she takes regular baths. If that doesn't work and it bothers you too much them you can always use a water bottle. If you use a water bottle, it takes training. Always ensure she knows how to use the water bottle prior to removing that water dish. Personally, I recommend letting her bathe in the dish and just change it with clean water more often.

As for stepping up, perch her on your finger and using your other hand, simply and gently force your forefinger into her chest just in front of her legs. While doing that say "step up" if she does it continue doing it by switching out hands until she gets the hang of it.

 

[DebsFlock]

Gurk. I typed a long response and my magic mouse ate it. Am I the only person who side swipes when I don't want to?

Anyway, my GCC Scooter loves to bathe in a sink with a lightly running tap and the drain closed, so there is a waterfall and a growing pool. When I don't offer this often enough, he happily bathes in his water dish. Our Cape insists on bathing in this water disk, which is way too small for that! So it's not an uncommon thing.

I think it is very hard to train a bird to NOT do something, it is much easier to teach them TO do something. So if you have a bath bowl you'd like him to use, find a reward to reinforce him for using it. He may decide that's a better deal and leave the drinking dish alone. Or not.

Same deal with stepping up away from the cage. Find a reward you can use to reinforce the behavior. Could be food, could be praise, could be head scratches, could be singing and dancing, whatever works! I actually taught Scooter to be better about going back into his cage by doing a silly song and dance act when he did so politely. I'm sure it looked ridiculous, but it worked!

 

[Parrotmamma]

My GCC has a favorite glass that she bathes in . It's a short , wide juice glass and that is the only thing she will bath in ...There is no way I could change her mind about that.
Once they get there mind set on something there is little you can do to change it...lol

 

[choreokyeelove]

Thanks everybody for the help and suggestions. Cho-Rok knows how to step up and down from her cage but just refuses to do it when she's not near her cage.

 

[Total_Dejavu]

I use a larger size, shallow Tupperware dish and I place in the sink over the drain so she doesn't get her toes caught etc. she was a little timid at first, but I placed her on the top of my hand and slowly lowered it then used my fingers to gently splash the water until she got the idea. She got used to it really fast. Also, I can usually tell when she wants to take a bath because she gets excited when I turn on the water. This keeps her from using the drinking dish as much. I believe she would stay in the water all day if I would let her lol.

As far as when she's outside the cage, I would keep her favorite treat nearby and bribe her with it then follow with the finger ladder, step up like suggested above. Maybe she thinks if she comes to you she'll be going back in her cage? Jules has figured out that when it gets dark, it's almost time for bed so she doesn't want to go back to her cage. When you get her off the couch do you immediately put her back in the cage? These little guys are too smart

 

[choreokyeelove]

Yes, that may be the reason why she doesn't want to step up from the couch. I do put her right back in her cage so that must be the reason why. She also figured out that when the treat we are holding is at the entrance of the cage that we are just luring her back into her cage and refuses to go after it.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

I saw a very funny youtube video of a woman using a straw to blow air bubbles in to a big pan of water so that it would be like a jacuzzi for her conure so that he / she would take a bath. I have to admit that I actually tried it recently (just once) to see if I could entice Pritti to take a bath since he's switched over time from daily to two or three times a week.
He wanted no part of that jacuzzi. He might pick up a new nick-name, like stinky, if he doesn't start bathing a little more. He's afraid of everything except dish bathing.

 

[dishgal1]

Forrest will only bathe in certain things. Either clear or light green plastic or stainless steel. You may find the right color and it will work. Try something similar to his water bowl. He showers with me every day but sometimes he likes an additional bath during the day.

 

[dishgal1]

One more thing they only bathe if they are in the mood. Sometimes running water will draw them to the cabinet and then you can put a bowl on cabinet. Forrest will not bathe in sink.

 

[friedsoup]

Sounds like the obvious a cheap bird bath with a bubbler I got one at a flea market for 20$ I spent hours watching my GCC taking baths I put it on the covered patio and sat with a tea or beer and plugged it in and sat back and laughed. Everything in tree feet of the bath was soaked.

 

[Trina]

My conure likes showers, I used to place him up on my shower rod while i showered, eventually i could pick him up and i could put him in the shower stream... Now i just put him on a shower perch as i am tidying up the bathroom in the morning when he is done he likes to be blow dried , he gets so excited its so funny