puts food in water bowl

[pi77]

i have an spectacled amazon and a love bird.

i feed them both zupreem pellets and a high quality seed mix at the rate of 3/4 pellets to 1/4 mix. i mix it all up so they eat both.

i buy the pellets that are not colored.

i also give fred my zone fruit and vegies and millet.

lola my lovebird (thinks she is a shark) will only eat pellets an seeds and millet. she will not touch anything else.

my problem is that they both put their food in the water bowl. lots of food. not only are they wasting this not so cheap food but i am continually having to replace thier water mutliple times a day. multiple as in every hour.

how do i stop this? what am i doing wrong?

a guy at the pet store suggested putting less food in the bowl making the bird think that food was not so plentifull that it could play with it. this did not help.

any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Jag]

There are a couple of things here... one-most parrots will make 'soup' with their food. Don't really know why, some do it to soften the food, some I think just like to do it without reason. I choose to live with it, and change out 3 water bowls multiple times a day. I do this because they like to put the food in their water, and if they're happy then I am happy. Two- you can stop this by giving them water bottles to drink from (but you still need to change water at least daily, make sure the bottles are working, and don't remove the water bowls until you've seen them drink from the water bottles to ensure that they are getting the water they need.

I have seen people say to place the bottles above the water bowls to make the 'connection' that it's water. Also you can 'show' them with your finger that water comes out when they do____. I have water bottles in my Pak O Birds, but I don't use them for their cages. You may meet some resistance in switching to water bottles, because they may really like to make the soup. Sorry, it's just a small bother in all the great things about them.

[pi77]

thanks... i have been thinking about getting the water bottles so that they always have clean water. at this point i am more concerned with them having a continuous supply of clean and fresh water.

just frustrating that the love bird has now picked up the soup making from the amazon.

i was thinking of going down in the size of the pellet and see it that doesnt help

thanks

[BirdieNumNums]

The problem is birds don't have saliva, so they need their food wetted down to swallow it well. However, most birds just dip their beaks in and not dump food in. Yours have probably decided that it is a lot of fun to make soup. If restricting the amount of food doesn't work, I would try a birdie water bottle. Most birds get the hang of it real quick. It saves a lot of water and less mess to clean up.

[sugarbeth]

Maybe just give them soaked food to begin with so that they don't need to mess up their water bowl? Would that work?

[pi77]

i didnt know about the saliva..... thanks for the info. that puts things in a bit of a different perspective.

i could try presoaking the pellets.

anything to make them have a better life. it is disgusting for me to even see a single pellet in their water bowl. i would have to change the water multiple times an hour to keep the water pellet free it seems. i could never ever keep up with that.

if the soaking doesnt work i may just have to live with some pellets in the water.

another thought.... the two bowls are a good bit apart. maybe i can situate the water bottle near the pellet bowl and use the other bowl for the veggies etc which probably dont need to be watered.

maybe i need to bring in chef ramsey to have a talk with these two donkeys hurmmmph. he would never ever go for bird pellet soup at hell's kitchen. hehe

[pecks]

Birds don't have saliva? Is it every bird? Because mine definitely has a little bit...at least his tongue is wet...especially when he gives his birdie kisses. Not super-wet, mind you, but you can tell it's moist.

Well, I converted Boo over to a water bottle and it's been working great. I got the Water Buddy brand. I clean it out every day and I don't have to worry about him getting into a soup-making habit. Especially because sometimes I'm gone at work for hours on end...and I wouldn't have a way to clean it out as often as it would have to be with it as soup.

[Lori~D]

Birds soak it to eat it the way they like it. Hard food is not the norm for most parrots. Water bottle training is the first step to assure fresh clean water for a "dunker". You have done nothing wrong for sure. To water bottle train you wil have to remove the water bowl for a time then you can put it back when they are using the bottle regularly. I would still give a bowl to a dunker or they may not eat as much as they should. Even if they do use a water bottle the dunk bowl will need to be changed a few times a day to prevent bacteria growth. I change the dunk bowl when I get home from work and then take it out at bed time. Fresh bowl in the morning before work.

[brdfvr]

BIRDS HAVE SALIVA! Some birds even use it to make their nests!

[Monica]

All birds have saliva, however, they do not have *AS MUCH* as humans do. There are also articles that say that parrots have less taste buds than we do. Therefore, parrots usually tend to love things that are spicy or sour.

I also second the pre-soaking. It only needs to be for 15 seconds or so, in a bit of water, or perhaps some fruit juice, like apple juice, cherry, orange, etc.


Even if you do switch your guys over to water bottles, I'd recommend keeping a regular dish in the cage for dunking. Some birds, however, learn to stuff food up into the spout of the bottle.