Reliable water bottle for Amazon parrot to prevent food dunking?

[BananaBirdLover]

Hey all! I have a 26 year old amazon parrot who loved to dunk pellets in his water dish. Usually I can change the water every four hours and it's not a big deal. However, when I need to be away for 12-72 hours (infrequent, but it happens) the neighbor changes his water 2x a day. I would love to reduce these water changes to a 1x day wellness check rather than emptying out and doing a thorough cleaning of the dish so often.

Anyone have any recommends? Obviously I would introduce the bottle slowly, and would monitor carefully to make sure he is actually drinking from it before leaving him the care of anyone else.

Thank you!!

 

[zERo]

Welcome to the forums!

Wow your ‘zon likes making soup that much huh?

I don’t use automatic waters for my parrots but I do use one for my sparrow as she is extra messy (she has a water bowl too for bathing)

The one she uses would be far too small for an Amazon though.

Maybe someone else who has used a good one will chime in!

 

[LoveOfallAnimals]

Some parrots will try to get their food wet from a water bottle and clog it. So it will look full but water will not be released. I feel your pain as two of mine are dunkers. My fear with a water bottle would be the bacteria that could grow from the parrot shoving food against the dispenser or that who ever is taking care of your parrot when you are out of town thinks the bird still has water when in fact it is not able to access it. Dirty water is better than no water.

 

[BananaBirdLover]

Some parrots will try to get their food wet from a water bottle and clog it. So it will look full but water will not be released. I feel your pain as two of mine are dunkers. My fear with a water bottle would be the bacteria that could grow from the parrot shoving food against the dispenser or that who ever is taking care of your parrot when you are out of town thinks the bird still has water when in fact it is not able to access it. Dirty water is better than no water.

This is a great point. I can absolutely see him doing that. I'll think about what makes sense. The food and water dish are very close to each other right now and I wonder if moving them farther apart would discourage the dunking? We'll see!

 

[onamom]

This is a great point. I can absolutely see him doing that. I'll think about what makes sense. The food and water dish are very close to each other right now and I wonder if moving them farther apart would discourage the dunking? We'll see!

Welcome to the forums!

For my GCC, moving her food and water dishes further apart helped keep the water clean!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hey all! I have a 26 year old amazon parrot who loved to dunk pellets in his water dish. Usually I can change the water every four hours and it's not a big deal. However, when I need to be away for 12-72 hours (infrequent, but it happens) the neighbor changes his water 2x a day. I would love to reduce these water changes to a 1x day wellness check rather than emptying out and doing a thorough cleaning of the dish so often.

Anyone have any recommends? Obviously I would introduce the bottle slowly, and would monitor carefully to make sure he is actually drinking from it before leaving him the care of anyone else.

Thank you!!

I prevent soiled water by locating the water bowl as far away from the food bowl as possible. This seems like such a simple solution, so I suspect you've already tried it. Does your bird actually put the pellets in his mouth and walk over to his water bowl and drop them in? You have to wonder why a bird would do that, but birds do silly things! I assume he doesn't fish the soggy pellets out and eat them, but maybe he does!
For my budgies I have used water dispensers that have a drinking part that inserts into vertical bars with the bottle part outside the cage and they do make them for larger birds like Amazons.
My biggest problem with water is my birds pooping in their water bowls. The dispensers would help but my birds all live in large acrylic bar-free "cages" so they don't have bars to insert water dispensers.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hey all! I have a 26 year old amazon parrot who loved to dunk pellets in his water dish. Usually I can change the water every four hours and it's not a big deal. However, when I need to be away for 12-72 hours (infrequent, but it happens) the neighbor changes his water 2x a day. I would love to reduce these water changes to a 1x day wellness check rather than emptying out and doing a thorough cleaning of the dish so often.

Anyone have any recommends? Obviously I would introduce the bottle slowly, and would monitor carefully to make sure he is actually drinking from it before leaving him the care of anyone else.

Thank you!!

I prevent soiled water by locating the water bowl as far away from the food bowl as possible. This seems like such a simple solution, so I suspect you've already tried it. Does your bird actually put the pellets in his mouth and walk over to his water bowl and drop them in? You have to wonder why a bird would do that. I assume he doesn't fish out the soggy pellets and eat them!
For my budgies I have used water dispensers that have the drinking part that inserts into vertical bars with the bottle part outside the cage. They make them for larger birds with wider bar spacing.
Parrots are so naturally curious that they will quickly inspect any new addition to their cages and quickly learn that water comes out of the dispensers. You can show them where water comes out by touching the drinking port and splashing a bit on them.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

I've Never had anything larger than a gold capped Conure, but my current brats are using a Petsmart brand water bottle. It seems to be working. I've had three bottles and only one has needed replacement because of faulty dripping. (I suspect Charlie clogged it and it never recovered.) They do need to be cleaned out regularly, otherwise they get disgusting

I would keep a bowl under the nozzle of the water bottle, in case it does drip/leak. Good luck to you!

 

[saxguy64]

Ahhhhh, sometimes they're just determined to make soup. My ekkie is a notorious disgusting soup maker. He drags stuff from his dry bowl to throw it in the water EVERY DAY. The bowls are on opposite sides and different heights in a 36x46x78" cage. I just have to keep an eye on it and change it out a couple times a day. I hope you can find a good solution that works for you when you're away and don't have someone there to change it as frequently.

 

[JinPicaJest]

Wonder what he would do with two water bowls, especially with one close to the food bowl and one far away? Maybe the farther one would stay clean(er). Of course, you'd still have one bowl of soup, so it might not be better.

 

[BananaBirdLover]

I prevent soiled water by locating the water bowl as far away from the food bowl as possible. This seems like such a simple solution, so I suspect you've already tried it. Does your bird actually put the pellets in his mouth and walk over to his water bowl and drop them in? You have to wonder why a bird would do that. I assume he doesn't fish out the soggy pellets and eat them!
For my budgies I have used water dispensers that have the drinking part that inserts into vertical bars with the bottle part outside the cage. They make them for larger birds with wider bar spacing.
Parrots are so naturally curious that they will quickly inspect any new addition to their cages and quickly learn that water comes out of the dispensers. You can show them where water comes out by touching the drinking port and splashing a bit on them.

You know, I haven't tried rearranging things because as silly as it is, it hadn't occurred to me until I'd read this forum. I'll rearrange his cage and give it a shot. He takes the pellet, goes to the water bowl, and dunks it Sometimes he eats it; sometimes he just drops it in and leaves it there.

 

[texsize]

My YNA is a big soup maker.
Pellet soup is the least messy soup he makes.
All my Fids get Zupreem nut blend and my YNA is the only one that makes soup.
The nut blend pellets just leave undisolvable crumbs At the bottom.
Tortilla soup on the other hand makes his water change a quick necessity.
I understand why it’s a problem for you. We have a family member at home nearly 24/7.
Bingo my YNA obviously enjoys making his food soft so I never tried to get him to stop.

I have seen Bingo carry a piece of tortilla a long way to get it into water but moving the water dish might help.

 

[BananaBirdLover]

Wonder what he would do with two water bowls, especially with one close to the food bowl and one far away? Maybe the farther one would stay clean(er). Of course, you'd still have one bowl of soup, so it might not be better.

Him being him, I'm sure he'd only want to drink out of the soup!

You know, I haven't tried rearranging things because as silly as it is, it hadn't occurred to me until I'd read this forum. I'll rearrange his cage and give it a shot. He takes the pellet, goes to the water bowl, and dunks it Sometimes he eats it; sometimes he just drops it in and leaves it there.

I'll give it a shot! Can't hurt!