Bathing Issue with My Yellow Sided Green Cheek

[EMMYLOU]

I came here for advice a few months ago trying to locate my dusky conure. With no luck, he's been missing for over half a year now, I decided to buy a Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure. Really on a whim, I fell in love with her at first sight! I sanitized my hands and stuck my finger through the bars and she climbed right on it, started nuzzling and kissing... needless to say, I wasn't going home without that bird!

We named her Zelda, Now we really call her Zeldee, she responds to that more. =D Anyway, she was only about 5 months old when I got her and she was absolutely, I mean, the most georgeous thing I have ever seen, so much color on such a tiny bird. I was amazed.

When I first brought her home and let her explore her cage, she wasn't used to climbing to much. I put her perches low and let her practice and experiment. I thought she was just scared to take a bath in a dish so, I would spray her with a water bottle to give her a bath. She wouldn't go in any dish. Not a pie dish, nothin. (Which is really different from my dusky because he would bath in anything.)

Well, now she will bathe, but only in her water dish. It's a stainless steel dish. I tried to give her a different water dish to drink from so that could be her bath dish, but she won't drink from any other dish. I'm in a pickle. She doesn't have any behavior problems. She is a very happy, playful, cuddly, amazingly WELL behaved bird. Just the bath issue. heh. Any advice on how to get her to bathe in a different dish? Or am I going to be changing her water 50 times a day for the next 30 years?

Anyways, here's a treat. I took this picture when I first brought her home. This is my little Zeldee @ 5 months.

[nailsrglue]

I'd get her a water bottle to drink from, so she doesnt get the water messy all the time. You'd probably have to wean her onto the water bottle. Then you can give her the water dish only when you want her to take a bath. I dunno if that'd work, but its worth a try.

[PowerBBS]

nailsrglue has a good idea.

I found the best way to wean them onto a bottle is to put the spout above the water dish (besides this gave a nice place for the bottle nipple to drip into). With my Sun, curiousity took over from there. She first pecked at it, and it dripped so she then started to drink from it. I kept up this fiasco for quite a while (just because I got too lazy to remove the rim for the bowl from the cage).

About 6 months later, I removed the dish and rim from the cage. I relocated the metal ring/rim to another part of the cage ("in the back away from outside distractions and lots of room) and I put in a dish about once every 3 days full of fresh water for my Sun... she takes a bath usually (quite promptly), and then I remove it. She usually doesn't drink from it anymore as she used to the bottle.

You can give that a try if you like

[EMMYLOU]

That sounds like a good idea! I will try, she is just so used to that water bowl! TY For the advice!

[xafsmom]

My jenday Xaf does the same thing, only he's like clockwork. Always has a bath at 12 to 12:30 daily. Always in his water dish. He's not accepting the water bottle, so until he surrenders (he's very stubborn), I just make sure to have his water bowl clean. Little trouble-makers they are! lol

[saucie]

Sorry if this isn't particularly helpful, but why do you need her to bathe in a different dish? How often does she take a bath?

I just don't find it too taxing to change the water bowl, but that's probably because sun Conrad waits until I change his water in the morning before diving into it. Does Zeldee like any other forms of bathing? One thing that I found worked for me when I was getting tired of Conrad shaking his wet feathers all over my drapes was to give him a shower once a day or once every other day. He likes running water, and he won't jump into his water bowl if he's already taken a bath.

[TJ Relic]

If you're looking for other ways for her to bath, you could try the kitchen sink. I cut a cheap thin plastic cutting board to size and put it in the bottom of the sink to give him a flat surface and then let the water go in a gentle stream. He loves all the room and sometimes shakes his head under the stream.

I also use a water bottle so he doesn't try to bathe in his cage. I always wonder how others deal with wet newspaper mixed with wet food on the cage bottom, I'm sooo not cleaning THAT!

[EMMYLOU]

Well, I tried putting her in the kitchen sink. She doesn't like that AT ALL. Even the little trickle of the water makes her uneasy, and I'm not going to force her. She will let me mist her with a water bottle, but it doesn't seem like she is having as good of a time as splashing in her water dish. Another thing, she doesn't seem to like to get wet anywhere other than our bedroom. (Her cage is located by our bed.. SHE IS SO SPOILED!) If the water bottle doesn't work, I will deal with her bathing in her water dish, and just change it frequently. I guess I was just trying to make life easier, but I'm not going to take my little girl's fun away, she just loves it too much! =D

Also, Wet Newspaper mixed with Wet Food, Yuck. I have yet to come across such a mess. She usually Just dips in her bowl (In a very flexable, "how the heck did you do that" Manner), flaps her wings, and then goes to perch in the sun... She isn't too messy =P

Thank You for all your help!!!!!

[kass266]

My little gcc Gizmo loves to take a shower in the tub, Gizmo will take a shower for about 5 minutes she gets really upset if I take her out before she is ready.
I give her a shower 2x a week, and if for some reason I can't give her one she will take a bath in her water bowl. She is a clean freak. She makes a mess when she baths in her bowl but I don't mind, reminds me of my kids when they were little soaking the whole floor and mom if they could.

[EMMYLOU]

Lol! I don't know if she'll get in the bathtub. I don't think so. She seems really intimidated by that big white thing. BUT, I can take a shower with her up on the curtain pole.