Bathing New Budgie?

[svolk]

I've read how important it is to allow birds to bath often. I've had my untamed Budgie for 4 days now. How am I supposed to go about bathing him if I cannot handle him yet? I've heard that some use a spray bottle, but would this freak him out so soon? Would he bath himself if I put a little bowl of water in his cage?

[carriesb]

Some will go in dishes if put in there cage some will go in there water dish if they want to. You can mist him make sure the spray bottle is set for mist and hold far away and if you do it in his cage remove food dish and do it in the morning or early enough he won't be going to bed wet. My budgies will do both though bathe in dishes but also like misting. And since he's still fairly new with you I would just give him a couple of sprays not soak him.

[Monica]

You can try buying a shallow dish that your budgie can sit in, or use a small container or even better the bottom for a ceramic pot. Fill with cool water and set in cage. Your budgie may be too scared still to bathe so it may not be sure what to do about it. You could try putting some small toys into the water and see if he takes any interest.

You can also buy a spray bottle, usually dollar stores (if you have any in your area) will sell cheap little plastic ones, fill with cool or luke-warm water, and spray ABOVE the bird so that it falls down into the bird from above... kind of like rain! The budgie probably won't be used to it so may try to run out from under the spray. Just spray it a few times early in the day and don't get the budgie soaked.

For now, those two options would be the best idea saying that your budgie is not tame yet.

[svolk]

Thanks for the suggestions. I put a small dish with water in his cage. He is definitely curious about it, but I haven't seen him go in. I splashed it around a bit when I put in it there. I'm going out to get a spray bottle today.

[kathleen]

I would mist from above and Pumpkin would give me the evil eye but being a baby he/she has to do things he/she doesn't like sometimes. Yesterday, I caught him/her taking a bath in the water dish. I was so excited and kept saying how proud I was. I saw in a thread somewhere here that they put a few drops of baby shampoo into the spray bottle, left if for a few minutes and then rinsed. Is this ok and safe to do?

[Monica]

A capful of Johnsons baby shampoo in a 32oz, or bigger spray bottle is fine as it helps to clean the feathers. The bird should only be misted slightly with this mixture as it does destroy their natural oils that they have already gathered onto their feathers. It would probably be a good idea not to do this more than once a month... After receiving the mixture, the birds should be rinsed off well with pure water.

However, I've never done this before so have no personal results.

[svolk]

Well I put a small dish of water in Jerry's cage this morning and he bathed! I noticed that his belly was all wet, and my husband said that he saw him bathing when he got home.

[big_blue_spam]

I'm glad he's decided to bathe on his own. What I did with Oscar to get him used to the spray bottle, which seems to get him more wet then just a bath, was leave it near his cage and occasionally spray myself while getting excited about it. (I know it sounds odd, but it worked and prior to me getting him he was sprayed as punishment.) The first time I sprayed him I waited until he was taking a bath in his dish and then gave him a lot of praise. Then I sprayed him a little bit and soon he was jumping around, yelling and relishing in his new found cleanliness
Amanda