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Dislikes wet food & baths

Cockatango

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Tango is 18 months old and is mainly living off seeds. I try to give her fruits and veggies, but she doesn't seem to like wet food. She's fine with broccoli or lettuce, but foods like fresh apple, grapes, or strawberries not so much. The moment her beak touches them, she shakes her head like she's shaking it dry.

I don't know if it's related, but she also doesn't like baths. She's had two by herself in the last year. I've tried giving her bowls of water to bathe in or spritzing with a water bottle, but she just runs away.

How can I get her a more varied diet?
And get her bathed more regularly?
 

sunnysmom

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Cockatiels generally don't eat fruit. So I would concentrate on vegetables. Try different sizes. Put some on a skewer and hang in her cage, etc. You can also try making birdie bread and putting chopped up vegetables in there.

As for a bath, just keep trying. My tiel for instance would only take a bath noonish or later. In the morning, he wanted no part of it. Make sure the water is luke warm, not cold. And with the mist, try doing it a bit above her so if falls down like rain. You can also try different noises too when bathing. For instance, if my cockatoo hears the fan above the stove on, he wants a bath. I also usually let the bird watch me spray my hand first too so they see what's going on before I try to mist them.
 

Tiel Feathers

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Good advice from @sunnysmom:)You can try veggies such as broccoli, green beans, sprouts, zucchini, sweet potatoes and leafy greens. Be persistent and good luck!
 

Mark & Da Boyz

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Da Boyz like cooked rice, and Pasta (no sauce), Broccoli, fresh corn, peas, Baby Kale and Spring GreensStore bought cooked food Higgens Worldly Cuisine. I had to try many ways of offering it too them and found, in my case anyway, that I had to chop it up very finely no big chunks other than the Baby Kale that is offered as a whole leaf clipped to the cage. It can take years for them to try so don't give up and look on the good side...you can eat the leftovers so they don't do bad. I have found the will eat Roudybush Mini pellets. Miss Riti, Kakariki, will hold one in her foot and eat it like a candy bar.

As far as a bath good luck, my Guys all scream all blood murder or I'm spraying them down with acid or flaming gasoline.
 

Tara81

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Dehydrated veges, bird muffins, sprouts ( wet but looks like seeds, great for tricking them to try ) . Once they get used to sprouts wet veges might be easier but dont stop tryingg, mix some seeds in the veges for awhile so they learn its food. Brocolli st
 

Mark & Da Boyz

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This is Breakfast for Da Boyz and Miss Riti, she gets her own bowl. Rice, quinoa, baby kale, spring greens, broccoli, carrot, and fresh corn.

 

Bobette

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My cockatiel hated baths. We put down bowls for him, but he wouldn't get in. He wouldn't let us put him under a showerspray. We started occasionally spraying him with a mistifyer (a spray for plants) and now he loves it, as long as we don't spray too close and do it from above. A normal plantspray-thing might be too harsh. It takes time for them to get used to it, I suppose.

Also, do you have a ritual for giving food other than seeds? I whistle 'delicious' to my bird or just say 'delicious' and now he associates it with getting tasty foods. That's how we got him to eat his veggies. (We also had to hold it up for him at first, because for him finding it in his bowl was too scary).
 

kokatiel

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My cockatiels dont eat anything chopped. Veggies should be in full shape to attract them. I got to this point after a month of suffering :)
 

Lady Jane

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One way to get a bird accustomed to water is to take them into the bathroom when you are taking a shower. I have a suction perch on the mirror which you can train them to sit on while you bathe. They will hear the water, feel the moisture and watch you enjoying the experience. Make a shower look like fun to them. After a month or two of this activity put the mirror perch on the tub or shower wall and sit them on it. Do not run the water yet. After a month of them just sitting on the bath perch have your bird in the shower with you. Then you have accomplished the task - very slowly.
 

ThisLittleBird

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One way to get a bird accustomed to water is to take them into the bathroom when you are taking a shower. I have a suction perch on the mirror which you can train them to sit on while you bathe. They will hear the water, feel the moisture and watch you enjoying the experience. Make a shower look like fun to them. After a month or two of this activity put the mirror perch on the tub or shower wall and sit them on it. Do not run the water yet. After a month of them just sitting on the bath perch have your bird in the shower with you. Then you have accomplished the task - very slowly.
That's what I do, Every morning I bring Zak into the shower. He still hates to get wet, but he does gets sprinkles of water on him... and I have been doing this for 7 months..
 

ThisLittleBird

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This is Breakfast for Da Boyz and Miss Riti, she gets her own bowl. Rice, quinoa, baby kale, spring greens, broccoli, carrot, and fresh corn.
I do something like this for Zak.. sometimes he nibbles away.. but other times he ignores it.. My previous Cockatiel loved anything I put in front of him... his favorite was oatmeal and cinnamon.. however, Zak did have some toast and scrambled eggs this morning
 

Mark & Da Boyz

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I have offered toast and eggs before but learn that eggs are a real PITA to clean off the walls. I plan offer them to Riti and Cheddar as see what they think.
 
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