Senegal water bowl issue

[forgottenangel3788]

My Senegal parrot recently discovered that he can tip his water bowl over in his cage. Since then, he has decided to do every single time I put more water in it! He, of course, thinks it's funny and I am trying to not react at all so that I don't reinforce the behavior but it is getting annoying, messy, and I am worried that he is going to get dehydrated since he gets rid of the water before he has time to drink any. Any suggestions on different ways to get him some water other than a typical water dish? I used to have rats, mice, gerbils, etc and have their old water bottles. Could he use one of those?

 

[weco]

My Patagonian liked to do that until I put a heavy cereal bowl in her cage.....you can usually pick them up at wally world or a dollar store for a couple of dollars.

 

[aliray]

I use heavy crocks for water and food at the bottom of the cage. They are small baking type dishes .you can find them at thrift stores and I had some french white small heavy baking dishes from Corningware that I use.

 

[forgottenangel3788]

I made him a ceramic bathtub that is the size a barbie could fit into. I learned not to put water in that because even though it is really big he still finds a way to tip it over so I don't think cereal or baking dishes would work.

 

[ivysaur]

My bird is trained how to drink out of a bottle! No mess, no food dunking, refill once a week! And watching her get a drink is the cutest. Make sure you train him properly if you want to try. Took us only a couple days.

 

[forgottenangel3788]

Thanks! That was really helpful. Stanley is really smart (sometimes TOO smart) so I'm sure he can figure it out.

 

[aliray]

I have a few books on parrots and they all say when using a water bottle the water bottle needs to be cleaned and changed daily as the bacteria will grow from the rotation of the ball after touching the birds beak. and also you have to be sure that nothing gets stuck in the roller so that it wont turn like a piece of food or seed

 

[MonicaMc]

I have some Smart Crocks... both that screw on directly to the cage and others that 'sit' on a square piece of acrylic.
Smart Crock Food Bowls - Discounted

I also have Lixit Quick Lock dishes.
Lixit Bowls and Water Bottles

And there are other items that may also work...
Bird Feeders & Waterers: Ceramic Crocks for Birds at Drs. Foster and Smith
Clean Cup Feeders/Waterers: Convenient & economical food & water dishes for pet birds

 

[forgottenangel3788]

The first two links are especially great. Right now he has ceramic dishes that sit inside metal rings that are attached to the outside of the cage. He figured out how to tip the ceramic bowls by pushing them from the bottom. Little stinker. If they weren't being held by something like the metal ring he wouldn't be able to do that though. He dunks his food in the water (before he started dumping it out). Should that be something I should allow him to do or should he go to a water bottle and not have a water bowl/dunking station. Granted this is in his cage, not his playstand so he doesn't use the food and water dishes there often as he is out typically all day but he still uses it sometimes.

 

[MonicaMc]

If he's a dunker, you might as well provide a secure water dish and a water bottle... cause if he likes dunking, he might end up trying to stuff the spout with water and you'll still have the same issue - no available water.

Some birds simply prefer their foods moist/soft, and you can try and stop it, but it can be quite difficult to do... even going as far as putting the dishes as far away apart as possible within the cage. Some determined dunkers will still walk that distance to dunk their food!

 

[forgottenangel3788]

haha the bowls are as far apart as possible and he still makes the trip.

 

[Zuzu]

Mine too is a dunker, he'll take crackers or those dried up looking cat or dog food and dunk it in his dish til their soaking and looking like a sponge, he'll pull it out and shake his head all over trying to get the water out then proceeds to eat it. Which i'm sure its good for him, i tried using cardboard to block up the cage around the water dish so when he did whip it side to side shaking the water out, but that didn't work, instead he destroyed the cardboard, shredded it all over the cage and in the water dish. Guess i didn't think that one through lol. His big cage also has the metal rings to hold the bowls, thankfully he don't tip em. His night time cage up in our room though is like a regular bird cage where the dishes are inside too lil doors that slide up. At times he thinks its funny to tip them in the other direction and spill out the food or water, then he laughs up a storm. We don't think its too funny, esp when sometimes he'll take a seed or some type of food and throw it outta his cage aiming for our drinks sitting on the TV tray bout 3 feet below his cage. He sure is a card at times.

 

[Joeyx]

i got this issue recently with Cloud. he'd tip over his food bowl at random times every single day and go without food for a while. i was getting pissed off that i couldn't find better cups in that size he's used to so i resorted to using a larger cup for his food. going great now so far.

maybe think bout getting a cup holder that holds the cups firmly?