Dunking of food in water bowl

[MMBURKE29]

Does anyone else have a bird that dunks food in the water bowl? All three of mine dunk to varying degrees. I end up changing their water bowls a couple of times because of my fear of contamination. What do you use to stop this or has anyone had luck with bottle water feeders and how do you change them over to one?

 

[Mizzely]

I just change it Jingo dunks everything... food, toys.... Koopa only dunks herself

 

[Robin]

Like this..... I have to change Shiloh's water 3 times a day.

 

[Meatball]

Yep the only ones that don't dunk are the Linnie's and my Pionus.
I always thank them for making mommy some soup lol


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[MMBURKE29]

This looks exactly like my Buffon's water bowl!! So nice to know he isn't soo odd!

 

[Deejo]

Solving the food into water issue was an easy fix. My Green Wing is never caged....so, I bought special custom made Stainless steel bowl holders from : donsbirds.com in California. The one for water is mounted on her Java tree, quite a long distance from where her food is. In over a year, she has never bothered carrying food all the way over to where the water dish is. Here is a picture of it:

 

[Mizzely]

Solving the food into water issue was an easy fix. My Green Wing is never caged....so, I bought special custom made Stainless steel bowl holders from : donsbirds.com in California. The one for water is mounted on her Java tree, quite a long distance from where her food is. In over a year, she has never bothered carrying food all the way over to where the water dish is. Here is a picture of it:

Jingo will fly pellets from his cage to Koopa’s or even the playstand in the back room he is very determined!

 

[Coco's Momma]

Like Deejo, Coco lives cage-free and so I had to place the water as far away from any food sources as possible. It is not 100%, but it helps a great deal. Coco is very adept at 'drive by eating'.

I tried her on a water bottle, but she would touch the food to the water bottle tip and it would get all gummed up. And for me, a water bottle is harder to change and clean than a dish. If your bird is kept in a traditional cage, you may not be able to get the food and the water that far apart from one another. If possible, move the water up high and the food down lower and on the opposite side of the cage. Most birds just love to moisten their food, especially pellets. Asking them to stop is often about as easy as getting the dog to stop licking his ___ in front of the inlaws.....!

 

[Noxxie91]

Both my birds dunk their food. I just make sure to change their water often.
I once tried having their bowls at opposite sides of the cage - didn't help

 

[roxynoodle]

Only my conure dunks, and she will do it no matter how far apart food and water are. Lately she's been taking loads of pellets to the water dish just to toss them in. I think she likes to watch them expand.

 

[CrazyBirdLady]

My macaw tosses pellets and nuts into her water bowl. I just change it frequently.

 

[Pookamama]

Yup, we gotta dunker here too. but the food dish is about my eye level and clear so it's easy to see when it needs a change.

 

[~birdybea~]

I tend to think that the fact that so many species do it suggests they're actively trying to increase the moisture content in their food for a reason (maybe its easier to eat or digest), so I don't go to any lengths to discourage it. Interestingly, none of my small Aussie parrots do it, and their natural diet would have a lesser moisture content than that of our conures, amazon, and macaw (who are all dunkers). I'm sure an element of dunking becomes behavioural after a time, because I'm quite sure that no amount of water is going to make Elmo's plastic toys digestible , but I think it starts as a way for them to make the dry/processed foods we choose more suitable for their needs. JMO.

 

[alnoble89]

one of my greys dunk so I move his water farther away from his food. He now throws food into his water and bobs to get it out. I guess I will just move the water bowl back.

 

[Bunnygirl]

Yes, that's why they're all on water bottles now. Except for Morgan. I've seen her dunk food before she came her (she hasn't been here long enough to know) but for her I think I was more of a way to soften her food so she could break it better without losing her balance on one foot.

 

[Yoshi]

I figure since I lîke dunking cookies in milk and toast (with peanut butter) in coffee - it would be a little hypocritical of me to try to disuade my birds from dunking their pellets in the water. I just change it frequently. In the scheme of all things bird care - its one of the easier tasks.

 

[tozie12]

i have two dunkers. My quaker and my M2. I dont discourage it, i just change their water more often.

 

[Hankmacaw]

It is by far the safest to use a water bottle rather than water in a bowl. They still figure out how to moisten there food by getting water in their lower beak and using that to moisten the food.

Look at the lixit bottles.

Water - lack of, or contaminated water is the number one killer of caged birds.

Read this:
http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/topten.html

 

[~birdybea~]

It is by far the safest to use a water bottle rather than water in a bowl. They still figure out how to moisten there food by getting water in their lower beak and using that to moisten the food.

Look at the lixit bottles.

Water - lack of, or contaminated water is the number one killer of caged birds.

Read this:
Top Ten Bird Killers

The link seemed mainly to deal with lack of water, particularly resulting from blocked water bottles? I would've thought the risk of contamination in a water bowl changed 1-2 times a day would be pretty low (lower than the risk of a water bottle not changed often enough, or not cleaned properly).

 

[Mare]

I've never seen my U2 dunk, but the Sassy goffin girl will dunk any thing dry, from cracker to paper towel roll, that I give her to shred! She's got no problem with her oatmeal, veggies or fruit.