Sun will NOT bathe

[greenbutterfly81]

And I'm not kidding. She ignores the water bowl and hates the sink. Misting her down freaks her out big time. I've taken to putting her in the sink and running water off my hands onto her but she hates it and jumps out and climbs me. Bath time is a very wet mess.

Any ideas?

 

[greenbutterfly81]

Oh, she's 3 months old and has apparently always resisted water

 

[AFP520]

Try a spray bottle, on light mist. If not, try the shower.

 

[antoinette]

When getting Mishka at 6 weeks, old I began washing Mishka my African Grey, in a sink in the kitchen. Placed a small amount of water, not higher than his claws, then splashed him. He hated being sprayed.

A month later, I then washed him in a baby bath, using a small jug.

From 11 weeks old, he got promoted to the bath, where I use the shower nozzle. He always plays in the bath, gets showered, then dances, then gets blow dried.

He loved his showers until recently, I think his hormones are kicking in.

This vid was videoed just over a year ago

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7-PRntjuS4"]Amazing Talking African Grey Mishka - Showering & Being Feather Dried - YouTube[/ame]

 

[greenbutterfly81]

So basically, keep doing what I'm doing and hope she gets over it. Ok we'll see how she goes.

 

[MaraWentz]

My Erin hates having water filled past her toes, she doesn't like to be misted, and she did not appreciate when I tried to put her in the sink. Instead, I take her in the bathroom wit me and turn on the water. Let her get used to the noise and then I put her on the shower ground (away from the water) and eventually she walks under the stream and just soaks.

 

[Trina]

My sun used to hate bathes, and run away in a quickness..Then i started picking him up every morning and setting him on the shower rod while i showered. Finally one day i he let me pick him off the shower rod to get him wet then i put him back up on the shower rod while i was getting ready for the day..Now its his morning routine

 

[aufde]

My GCC was the same way, I got him to bath by accident actually. I was trying to get him under the sink a couple days in a row and he never wanted to get under the water. One day I had to wash my hands before bath time and after he saw me "playing" in the water he wanted to see what it was about. Now he's just fine at bath time.

 

[antoinette]

So basically, keep doing what I'm doing and hope she gets over it. Ok we'll see how she goes.

I reckon keep doing what you doing
Try out different methods, and figure out which she prefers.
Can't remember.... have you tried placing a water bowl (quite a big one) in her cage at the bottom. Sooner or later, she will get curious, and hopefully take the plunge.

I left a water bowl at the bottom of Mishka's cage for 8 months, yipe 8 months then he finally took the plunge.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M3u4emjvHc]Amazing Talking African Grey Mishka - Finally took the plunge - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Featheredsamurai]

i mist Rosie and also take her in the shower and she sits on the door. even if they don't get wet the humidity from the shower is wonderful for them.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

I love the Mishka videos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[kentstar]

My Sunny hates being misted, it freaks him out. He get too scared of being placed in the sink either. What I do is hold his water dish under the faucet (faucet turned on cool water lightly) and let him climb onto the bowl and bath from that. Give that a try!

 

[Trina]

awww thats cute, Mishka is having so much fun

 

[BoomBoom]

My sun used to tolerate getting misted, now he does a protest screech when he sees it so I stopped. I encourage him to bath on his own. I found that if I use a 1 inch deep stainless steel bowl and pretend like I'm dunking my face in it, he will want it for his own. He would even go as far as nip me lightly if I hog up the bowl for too long.

If all else fails, I'd take him to the shower with me for 5 minutes with the spray on low, room temp.

 

[Remy]

Puck would start to take a bath almost every time I would take him in the car during the daytime.

Also, he'd randomly take baths every few days in his water dish, when he felt like it.

 

[Echo]

Have you tried running the vacuum cleaner? They all jump in the nearest water source when I do! It's collective bathing time!!!!

 

[Customcasket]

Hmmmm, I never had a problem with birds not liking to bathe. My budgies hate being misted. Spooky will occasionally bathe in his water dish. Meister has a little bathtub shaped thing that she bathes in. It took me a few weeks of putting it in daily to get her to use it. Kayak and Carlisle both like to bathe in their water after making "soup". I have a shower perch that I put the birds on. Kayak has to bathe on her own terms, so most days she just hangs out in the shower with me without actually bathing. (I think she likes to hear her whistles echo) and Carlisle will almost always step off the perch onto my hand and happily go under the stream of water. He likes to bathe in the bathroom sink, but only if he thinks I'm having too much fun "playing" in the water. (I'll just splash around and make happy noises until he scurries down my arm and hops in the water to have his own fun)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGtFkLA2I74&list=UU4D480bica5POErOA8G1lpw&index=1&feature=plcp]Carlisle the Sun Conure takes a bath. - YouTube[/ame]
Hopefully one day you'll get to hear the sounds of a happy bird taking a bath.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

I'm definitely going to try taking Pritti in to shower and trying him out in the dry area on the floor first. I envision him running toward the wall like a monster is after him -- hates water sprinkling, misting on him. But it sounds like there's hope. Thanks for all the ideas.