Need advice on bathing my new Meyer's

[animal_lover]

Hello everyone. I just recently got my baby Meyer's who is now approx11-12 weeks old. I would really like to take in the shower with me or bath him in the sink. But I don't want to scare or traumatize him. We have lightly sprayed him a couple of times and he seemed to like it. How do I introduce this activity? Suggestions? Thanks

[cml]

I did just as you, the first day I sprayed him with a water bottle.
Day 2 I just put him on a wallmounted perch I put in in the shower, and started showering. I got a "mist" function on my shower nozzle and it gives a very fine spray. I tried spraying it at Stitch and he abslutely loved it, from the first drop. It wasnt any harder than that, he loves showering and showers with me everyday. =)

[Sarah]

Try bath time with the sink, or with a spray bottle, shower works too. If you have a bird room you can set up a little water fountain. My mother has one and her Senegal likes it. If the bird sees you enjoying the water he may be more inclined to bath. If that fails, just keep trying and offering. Keep it positive, and your bird will come around to it if they dont love it right away. You will know if your bird likes the bath, they will ruffle up their feathers and spread their wings out, maybe start twisting about to get wet everywhere. If your bird does not like the water they will keep their feathers flat to the body and try to get away from the water, its pretty clear if they are not enjoying it!

When we brought my cockatiel home he did not like the spray bottle, I think the bottle scared him, more than him disliking the water. I tried offering a glass pie plate of water for him to bath in, thats how my childhood budgie liked to bath. I put a few toys he likes in it to entice him into the water. He did get in but only after I started playing in the water myself. He didnt quite know how to flick the water around and get nice and wet. I dripped water on him and he thought it was great, I had the water bottle handy and gave him a fine misting and he loved it! Once he was in the mood for a bath he didnt mind the bottle so much. My budgie likes to bath in a dish in his cage. I just keep an bigger dish in there for him to use when he likes, and change it when I change the rest of his water.

I do have a problem with my senegal and bath time. He does not like the spray bottle, he is freaked out by the bathroom, never mind if I turn the shower on. We have been working on it with him but not getting anywhere. He does bath himself in his water dish...so I got a nice big food dish for larger parrots and was hanging that in his cage but he would not bath in it. i have tried offering a pie plate of water for him, no go. Next step is offering some wet greens for him to wash himself in. I dont know if he will go for it, most likely he will just be afraid of it. The bird is phobic of everything and anything. Even objects he sees everyday.

[animal_lover]

Thanks guys. I think I will try the pieplate first but I also want to try the shower. If he doesn't like the shower will he hold it against me?

[animal_lover]

Hi again. I bathed my little one in the pie plate. He really didn't want to stand in the water etc but seemed to enjoy when I held him over the plate and sprinkled him with the water. I will eventually try the shower but I guess I'll get him used to this first

[SKOShields]

I'm having a similar problem with my Senegal, he doesn't like getting wet at all. I've tried the squirt bottle, the bathroom sink and the kitchen sink with the handheld sprayer and he hates all of it. I do.t know what else to do, bc I'm not sure if its just a bird thing or what, but when I pet his head and neck it seems kinda bumpy/gritty and he preens himself alllll the time. My granny was watchin him the other day and said maybe he has dry skin? Whenever I try to give him a bath I can never get to his down feathers let alone his skin so maybe?

[liz]

I bought a shower perch from www.drsfostersmith.com for the amazons. I angle the shower head so that I get most of the water and they only get some on the end of the perch. I put them toward the shower wall on the dry side and it is up to them how much they want.
Rambo lifts his wings and washes his butt. Myrtle just lets it beat on her head. She has watched Boozle on YouTube getting a shower so I change the adjustment to put half the water in the shower wand to do her belly and under her wings.

Myrtle has learned many things from YouTube. She requires 2 hours of YouTube everyday. If I forget - she reminds me by singing a little of Manino's opera.

[Zanizaila]

Eight years and I have never managed to shower my Meyers. She bathes herself in her (big) bowl, or under running water, when she feels like it.