Water for drinking

[Boki]

In one of my previous posts, I asked about showers vs baths. Since then I have learned a couple of things. One is that if offered a choice between a shallow bath or a shower, my conure prefers the shower. She absolutely hated the shallow bath and jumped out of it so fast. But she will sit under a shower and never move.

In the beginning (before showers) I noticed she would jump in the water bowl in the early afternoon. So I would give her the shower right after lunch. But today, mid- morning she jumped in her water bowl again for a sloppy and intense bath.

So I need to figure out a way to discourage her from bathing in the water bowl. The only thing I can think of is giving her the shower earlier, right after she eats breakfast. Any other ideas to keep the water bowl for drinking?

 

[YSGC]

Maybe find a bowl too small to bathe in.

 

[chris-md]

Or just let a bird be a bird. Birds need baths and what better way to encourage this very natural behavior letting them do it on their own time. I don’t see water bowl bathing as a problem in the slightest. Ok, change the water. You’re doing that a couple times a day anyways.

 

[Boki]

Maybe find a bowl too small to bathe in...

I am pretty sure that any bowl not secured will be flung around the cage over and over.

 

[Tulojow]

I agree with the sentiment of not worrying about the attempts to bathe in the water dish. I've had several birds that really love bathing, even when given the option of showering. I only really ever worried about it when my birds would empty the water bowl while I was gone. Because of this, I ended up training my birds to use water bottles and always had a full one available as a back up. So far, all of my birds have adapted to water bottles quickly and several preferred it to the water bowls. And, they could bathe to their heart's content without risking running out of water before I get home.

 

[Jen5200]

I gave up pretty quickly on discouraging bathing in a water bowl - I have 4 conures . I added extra bowls to each of their cages and gave everyone an oversized bowl, which pretty quickly became the “preferred bathing bowl” since it’s large and they get the wettest in there. Mine seem to leave their “drinking bowl” for drinking and bathe in the bowl that is most comfortable size-wise. I also learned to place that big bowl far away from the food bowls so that we don’t end up with sopping gross pellets while I’m not home.

I like the idea of training them with water bottles as well - may try that soon as a backup for drinking water (mine all have at least two water bowls each, but I would feel better on hot days).

 

[Tulojow]

I've found the actual "training" to be fairly minimal. Luckily, the water spout is shiny and metal and I've yet to have a bird who didn't immediately go and investigate. They'd figure out pretty quickly that pressing the ball made water come out. Several of my birds figured out how to hold a piece of food in their beak and fill their beak with water from the bottle - effectively dunking their food without getting the rest of the water dirty.

Since I started using them, I've become a strong advocate for back up water bottles. I previously worked in a prison and the vast majority of the time, I worked the typical 8 hour shift. There was always the potential I could get stuck at work for hours or days at a time. It was reassuring to know that I didn't have to worry about the water running dry, even if I got caught in bad weather, my car breaking down, etc.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Maybe find a bowl too small to bathe in.

I am not sure this is possible. I actually got bigger bowls for all my birds specifically because my gcc loves taking a bath in her water dish so much. Why fight it? Even my CAG, who typically acts like water in any form other than the drinking kind is deadly likes to stomp around in his dish like it's a kiddie pool on occasion.

I first trained my Amazon on using a water bottle for when we go places in the summer because I don't have to worry about it spilling as much as a regular dish. Now he'll use either. Being a young, "ferocious" Amazon, it didn't take him long at all to realize that the metal intruder gave him cool drinks when he "killed" it.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[noodles123]

I put a shallow glass pyrex pie plate at the bottom of my cockatoo's cage when she is looking overly interested in her water. I already wash and refill the dishes 2x daily and that is when she ISN'T playing in it.

With the pie plate, she seems to get it out of her system while keeping drinking water fresh. I do notice that she wants to bathe more when I vacuum (sometimes), when it rains, and when it is the weekend. Not sure why...but I have a few guesses.

 

[YSGC]

I just let Pico bathe in his water dish.
Then I clean up and give him fresh water.

It's just as well, as this extra cleaning keeps his space even cleaner.

 

[EllenD]

If you have tried all the suggestions and your bird still bathes in his water dish first thing every morning, then just let him...My Green Cheek takes a bath in his water dish every morning too, he actually sits and waits for me to come dump it and refill it with clean water so that he can take a bath in it...And I'm perfectly fine with that, because what extra work does it cause me in the first place? An extra 3 minutes taking the dish back out, dumping it, cleaning it, and refilling it, then putting it back in his cage? I'm perfectly fine with that, because he's a happy guy, and he's a bird being a bird, and it's not causing me any great burden, lol...And if your bird likes to shower with you in the morning then that's great, let him take a shower with you every morning. But if he ends-up taking a bath in his water dish after he's already taken a shower, or you fill up his water dish with clean water first thing in the morning (as you obviously have to) and he ends-up taking a bath in it before you get a chance to take a shower, then what's the big deal? So you have to dump his water dish out and refill it once more...not that big a deal. At all. And he's a happy, healthy bird who is allowed to be a bird...Honestly after this past weekend where my Quaker Parrot flew outside in a major rainstorm Friday night around 5:30 p.m. and I didn't get her back until Saturday late-afternoon around 4:00 p.m., and in-between I saw her chased from a tree by 4-5 Crows who were 4-times her size and who wanted to kill her, and who I though had killed her, until I once again heard her responding to my contact-calls about 3-hours later and more than a mile away from where I last saw her being chased by the Crows...Well, honestly, they can all bathe wherever they want to bathe, and I'm more than happy to refill their water dishes 100 times a day if need be...