Bathing issues

[yellowfeathers]

I am having trouble introducing my Budge to baths. I have tried a spay bottle but he doesn't like it. I have also tried putting a shallow dish of warm water in his cage but he won't use that either.
Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Valkyria]

Maybe he just doesn't like it. (And thats ok) My sun conure and my Alexandrines loves showers and baths in all forms. My tiel well he only like it outdoor on a sunny day with hose in a fine mist. I had trail an error several things until I figured out what he liked.

 

[PoukieBear]

Don't give up, sometimes it just takes a while for them to clue in.

Try adding some lettuce or spinach to the dish of water, Or even just used wet lettuce leafs to start with.

 

[TikiMyn]

Keep trying to mist them, spray a little above the bird, but stop if they Move away, I usually started a little next to them so they could decide if they wanted to move closer or not. Some kind of shower perch would be Great, take him into the shower with you whenwhen he wants and after (Maybe a very long) period of time he might move closer, and closer untill eventually he is getting completly wet! You could also try wetting Some leaves and hanging them in the cage. You could also try shaping this behavior with Clicker training. Reinforce him first for looking at the water, either water you spray or water running in the shower, then reinforce for turning his head, then one step toward the water, and so on.

 

[Mizzely]

My birds only bathe in really cold water. One only bathes in small dishes, and the other only in dishes that are wide and shallow and won't touch his tail. I've also had birds that will only bathe when the vacuum is running.

Some birds just need everything to be just perfect.

 

[Parakeet88]

I noticed my keets really love running water. When I pour water into their bowl it's their favorite part of the day lol since noticing this I started looking into cat/ dog fountain bowls. My mom got one for our dogs to try but they didn't like it so she brought it to me to try with the birds. My keets love it. They aren't tame so I put the whole thing in their cage and my male keet whose a little older goes absolutely crazy over it. Once in a while my female will try it out but she doesn't like it as much. They seem to like when I put some sort of leafy green in the bowl. It's a bit of a process to get it in/ out of their cage and then I have to clean it so I usually give it to them on my days off work. They seem to appreciate it more after they haven't had it for a while, compared to my conure who would take several baths a day given the option.

My previous keets loved being sprayed. They loved to go around and lick the water off their toys lol like the others have said start off slow. Make sure the spray is a gentle mist and try to replicate rain by spraying above him and letting it fall. Don't chase him around spraying him, choose one spot to spray and if he wants to get wet he can step into to mist. Maybe try giving him a bowl of wet veggies like lettuce, then he can fail around in it.

Keets are from Australia and don't always have access to water so they are more likely to take dust baths in the wild. Don't worry too much about getting him to bathe, it's really fun to watch but not a huge necessity. If he doesn't seem to like water then I would only spray him occasionally like when he's got a lot of pin feathers for example. The water can help get the sheath off the pin feathers and help them come in easier. Try some different methods and don't give up right away but he may just truly not be into baths.

Here's my keet with his favorite bowl. I try to put it in just before I clean the cage since he gets the paper all wet. He usually likes to sit on the top but he was having fun dunking his head under the stream of water.

 

[yellowfeathers]

Thanks. I will see if he responds to any of those.