discovering baths

[momo]

hi all,

I think elmo is going through a molt at the moment, I keep seeing some really bright green feathers on the top of his head, and the blue on his back has become alot brighter. and tiny little feathers around the house.. (i think these are the dead give away lol)

i have been taking him into the shower with me about every three days. where he ends up completely soaking wet, but he doesn't try to fly away from me. I am yet to figure out if he hates it or not. but afterwards he has a nice good preen. i never hear any squark protest when in the shower.

anyways, I just saw elmo before go to his water dish in his cage (which is quite large) he never normally drinks from there as he has a water dish in his playpen.

..moving on.. i saw him just flick his head in the water which he has been doing for the past two weeks, but today he decided he wanted to have a bath in it!!.. :omg:(I previously tried to entice him with the sink and warm water but gave up because he wasnt interested..)

he slowly dipped himself in the water bowl.. so much i just saw one wing sticking out of it..
he ended up just sitting in it for a while..:rotfl he sat in the water bowl for a few minutes and then go out and started to preen himself.

should I up his showers with me? just let him wash himself in the water bowl?

does anyone else baby just sit in the water bowl? how do you give your babies a bath?

[Bubblelady]

Neither of my lovies like warm water. After all, rain water isn't warm! Both adore/adored running water. Bo used to bath in his water dish regularly, especially when the sun was shining on it (through the window). He also liked to sit on my extended arm while I was in the shower, letting the water hit my shoulder so it sent up a mist-like spray. He would close his eyes, point his beak straight up, and zone out. It was too cute. He was also attracted to the sound of running water. Even jumped off my shoulder one day to get to the downspout from the roof gutters on a rainy day, and jumped into a drinking fountain at the park.
Buddy is a dunker. Never yet has jumped in, like Bo did. But if I let the cool water run gently (not cold because while she likes it cold, I don't) into my cupped hands, forming a pool that continuously flows, she sits on the fleshy pad below my thumb, take multiple sips (the only time she ever takes more than 3 sips of water at a time), to test the temperature, I believe. Eventually, she dunks her face & a bit of her head in the water a few times, then runs up my arm & preens. We do this both in the kitchen sink and in the bath tub. Sometimes I get impatient since the cool water is running into my bath water while she takes her time deciding when to dunk. Then I get cold!
But both birds decided whenthey wanted a bath. Definately not every day. They just headed down my arm toward the running water when ever they were in the mood, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. The canary, on the other hand, baths every day, and sometimes more than once a day. Again, they all have their own personalities. :rofl:

[momo]

Elmo does the same thing in the shower!!
he sits on the edge of my arm and shoulder and closes his eyes and has all of the sprinkles all over him.. he doesnt like going under the shower.. dont blame him.. he's soo tiny. hehehe.

It's hard when I want to wash my hair, I have to force him onto a high railing. Does not like it at all. If I leave him up there for too long he tries to fly down.
I have learnt to wash my hair super quick, sometimes with one hand! My reflexes are fantastic now. If I hear the wings flap my hands go out for a landing. (though he still bites my thumb when he lands... *sigh*)

LOL.. i cant believe Bo jumped into a drinking fountain!.. he must have been a fish in a previous life!

I have my showers at night.. so after elmo has a shower with me.. out comes the hair dryer.. where he shakes his whole body.. it's like he knows just what to do.

[michael]

hi all,

I think elmo is going through a molt at the moment, I keep seeing some really bright green feathers on the top of his head, and the blue on his back has become alot brighter. and tiny little feathers around the house.. (i think these are the dead give away lol).......

......he slowly dipped himself in the water bowl.. so much i just saw one wing sticking out of it..
he ended up just sitting in it for a while..:rotfl he sat in the water bowl for a few minutes and then go out and started to preen himself.

should I up his showers with me? just let him wash himself in the water bowl?

does anyone else baby just sit in the water bowl? how do you give your babies a bath?

As you mentioned, it does sounds like Elmo is going through a molt as those smaller feathers are a definite give away. This may be a good time to up his bathing routine provided he's the willing party.

You know, quite by accident my lovebird Goofy joined me one day as I prepared to take a shower. He was with my wife when she came upstairs and flew right in on top the shower curtain. Birds will be birds of course :rotfl and he jumped right on my shoulder and proceded to bathe himself. I even had to rescue him one time as the shower knocked him to the tub bottom :(! I allowed him two to three soapless rendezvous's before deciding to abolish any health risks involved as well as a hefty water bill.

Surely there are others who have shared their shower routinely with their parrot. Usually this is discouraged as bathrooms (even the cleanest) can harbor germs and bacteria that need not be exposed to birds. besides this, soaps/shampoo's, makeup, etc, can be hard on a birds respiratory system. This, aside from the inconvenience of having to supervise Elmo's activity while you attend your own needs is really not worth the risks. Obviously, Elmo loves his bath whereas his water bowl would be the prefered/and safest method. He may even like misting with a spray bottle :).

I will add there's been a few times I've snuck Goofy under the shower briefly on my arm then returned him downstairs where he belongs. (for supervision reasons the upstairs is off limits) ......I've also thought about installing one of those taller faucets with a sprinkler head in the kitchen sink just for his bathing pleasure as he loves to bathe in our hands in the sink. Good thing he likes his bowl too!..............:)

[wilkiecoco]

Kiwi definitely decided his own method of bathing. He loves to stand on my dish rack with the water running down - only cold for him, he hates warm water - dunking and flinging his body in the water. He has become quite proficient at it. He manages to get completely soaking wet, and then the preening begins.

He usually bathes a few times a week. Since I do dishes every day, whenever he is in the mood, he flies over, waddles over to just the right spot on the dish rack for maximum water coverage, and the bath begins. :happy:

I must admit, there is nothing like a wet birdie!!!!! :happy:

[Pips mom]

I usually let Pip decide for himself when he feels like a bath which is usually about once a week or so. He has a birdie bath thing that I keep on top of his cage, although I have misplaced it somehow since our vacation and think it may have ended up at my sisters where Pip stayed.....I have to track it down. It's like a big triangular shaped dish that is heavy, made of a marbly type stone so it doesn't move or get knocked over. Pip hops right in it and takes a bath....it is the cutest thing!

[momo]

Thank you all for sharing with me :D

Today was the first time ever that elmo jumped in the water bowl.. I have to say. I have never laughed so hard.

I have learnt to wash my hair with one hand very well hahaha. I never thought about the bathroom germs though.. so maybe shower time together isn't the best. I am slightly conflicted though, because it was because of shower time together that elmo became quite tame and learnt to trust me as I would catch him every-time he fell.

I want to make it a little bit easier for elmo to bath, it just looked very akward, but then again he makes everything look very awkward. hahaha.
I am going to hunt down a bigger bath bowl.

I used to mist him every few days when I got him in about the second week I had him. the first couple of times he loved it. he would stand there and wouldnt move just tilt his head a little bit. but later on he started to run away from it so i stopped.

I was thinking about running the water, but in western australia are have a water shortage and i cant seem to justify it in my head when ive got a spray mister. he wont jump in my hands anyways, he will go as far as my wrist and thats it.

maybe now he's molting he seems to love water.
i haven't seen him get crabby or anything yet so it mustn't be a painful molt for him. *cross fingers*