Congo HATES water! Has never bathed!

[Dave0721]

Hi there,

I'm in great need of help. I've owned many different kinds of animals over the past 20 years because, well, I love animals. Ive never come across an animal that doesn't like to take a bath though. Ive had my African Grey for just about a year and half, and Ive tried everything I could think of to try and make him bathe. He's extremely dusty and I believe is beginning to molt for the first time. I know that this time is especially important for him to be bathing so that the new feathers are able to come through properly.

I would appreciate any and all the help I can get. Just so you all know, Ive tried to use a mister which he hates, Ive put a bowl in the cage, which he won't go near, Ive tried to have him take a bath from the tap in the kitchen, which he acts as though he wants to go into the water, but never does, and I've tried to condition him to eventually come into the shower with me so that I can get him wet.

Thank you I'm adnvance for your help!

Dave

 

[LeaKP]

Aw they are so itchy when they molt.

My greys have always had baths, even when they hated it. I would mist/spray them whether or not they like it. They ultimately grew accustomed to it after seeing that I wasn't going to change my mind. All but one grew to mostly enjoy the process.

I would take Congo out of his cage and have him perch and then gently spray him all over with a spray bottle, all the while talking. Then, if he is treat motivated, give him his favourite treat afterwards.

All the best!

 

[OOwl]

Must be a Grey thing because mine hates to bathe too and does that horrible Grey scream if I try to mist him. I found what sometimes works is to fill his regular water bowl with ice-cold water. For some reason, he just can't resist taking a bath in that. I tend to try to do it when it's raining outside, too, which seems to further encourage him. You might try that.

 

[cnyguy]

According to her former owner, the CAG I adopted in April hadn't had a bath in over ten years. Her feather condition wasn't the best, so that may have been true. Like many other Greys, Scooter didn't like being misted and would growl and move away when I tried it. I kept at it though, misting her whenever Ralph the QP got his mistings (which he loves). Scooter will tolerate it now, and even expects to get sprayed when she sees Ralph getting misted, though she still doesnt really like it. She also will sometimes splash in her water dish, which I think she learned from watching Ralph take baths in his water dish.

 

[texsize]

My AG also hates water in any form. Shower, mist bottle, bowl of water, running water in sink.
I mist her a little bit even though she screams. Just not as often as I should.
I do think se will get use to it but have to do it in the cage.
She tries to fly away if she is perched outside of cage.

 

[Dave0721]

Thanks for all of your replies! So basically, I'm either SOL or I need to keep misting him everyday until he gets used to it? *sigh* he's going to hate me can't doing that trigger him to start plucking because of stress?

 

[Nicky76]

Archie isn't fond of baths either. I spray him regularly and always give treats straight after. He soon gets excited about treats and forgets his annoyance at having a bath [emoji6]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SailBoat]

The most common error made when misting is to direct it at the Parrot. Start with misting up into the air above your Parrot and allow it to 'rain' down on your Parrot. I'm not saying that your Parrot will like it any better, but it takes away the likelihood that you are punishing your Parrot.

Our DYH Amazons hates to take showers, well until he is wet, then its splash time and the half and hour to wipe down the shower and everything else!

There are some low flow 'water saver' shower heads on the market that reduce the pressure of the spray and at least with my zon it helps during the first part of 'I hate showers.'

 

[Jerseyjeff62]

Keep trying and have patience

 

[Scott]

The most common error made when misting is to direct it at the Parrot. Start with misting up into the air above your Parrot and allow it to 'rain' down on your Parrot. I'm not saying that your Parrot will like it any better, but it takes away the likelihood that you are punishing your Parrot.

Our DYH Amazons hates to take showers, well until he is wet, then its splash time and the half and hour to wipe down the shower and everything else!

There are some low flow 'water saver' shower heads on the market that reduce the pressure of the spray and at least with my zon it helps during the first part of 'I hate showers.'

For this reason the best I can do with my TAG is to use a bottle with nozzle set to the finest mist. He will barely tolerate when I spray from an angle that allows the droplets to descend naturally.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Just what I usually share...
My conure ONLY wants shallow water in a gigantic wok I got for him. He detests sprays or overhead faucet flows.
Maybe your bird had bad experience(s) with water or baths. I'd experiment with a shallow bowl or such... that worked for me. My bird seemed nervous about the sink, but accepted the wok.
Also, experiment with some gentle trickles from your cupped hand when he is near the shallow water in a wok or similar, and see if he likes that, maybe.
If all else fails, you might just have to give him an unwanted spray now and then for feather/skin conditioning... I'd warn him "Here comes the spray" then do it fast, then give a treat.
My Rbird loves to be blow-dried since an early age. I hold the dryer out at arm's length... he sidles up as close as he likes... about elbow-ish. Patagonians are from a very arid desert-ish land, so this might be too drying for some parrots, but he LOVES it...his little beady eyes almost roll back in his head in ecstasy.

 

[DRB]

Misting is the way to go to introduce them to baths, IMHO. Mist from a distance above is possible, and if you can use as small of a sprayer or non-intimating of one as possible.

 

[Puck]

Lucille hates bathing, too. I mist her from above and because she is such a lady she doesn't scream or anything, but she does get quite the "aggressive look" going on and retreats to her cage to try and hide, wherever we start. Since she's molting and soooo itchy I've been giving her short warm water spray baths everyday, and though I think she's getting used to it, she obviously doesn't like it any better. She does get over it faster, though, and gets back to routine (aka, destroying every toy in her cage) quickly. I feel guilty, though, when I start. I do hope that it is helping with her dustiness and molty itchiness, though. If I try to get her in a dish of water she flies away, and she HATES baths from a faucet, so spray bottle it is.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Smokey hated bath time too. Misting,she'd just hunker down,lower her head,and pull tight her feathers..Wouldnt go near a faucet or bowl.
I ended up just putting her in the bath tub,and using the shower head with luke warm water and drench her. She didn't yell at me or anything.

I'd dry her off in a towel,then she'd run to her water bowl and climb in
and splash about til it was empty. I never could figure her out

Jim

 

[DRB]

Perjo took a few weeks to accept baths outside, a couple more to actually like them. Every single time I put her back in her cage after a bath she would express a great deal of gratitude. Usually within 10 minutes after she was very vocal, another sign she likes baths.

Yesterday I gave her the first indoor misting, due to winter weather taking over, and she didn't enjoy it as much, but once in her cage she let out her patented thank you whistle.

 

[jdlehman76]

My CAG seems to hate any sort of water also. I have had her for over two years and any form of a bath has been forced. I've tried every thing with the misting, changed colors of the nozzle, misted from above, below, beside, behind, the other room, not even hitting her with the spray, and the result is the same. She tries to fly away and crashes to the ground since she can't fly. (She is a rescue with a plucking issue that keeps her from flying.) I've got a perch in the shower which she will tolerate if she is as far away from the spray as possible. She shows no interest in playing in shallow water or in a water dish. I have had to force bathe her, however, that doesn't seem to affect her attitude towards me longer then a few minutes. Maybe someday she will like water, but I'm not holding out much hope at this time. I would recommend you just keep trying and when necessary find a way to get your bird at least in a highly humid environment to help.