Yay, showers are fun!

[jenseits]

Another small step forward... I gave Stewie a good misting this morning ... and he LIKED it! Now we're getting somewhere.

He occasionally took little baths in his water bowl, which is fine but not ideal since 1) he needs to drink out of later if he does this when I'm not around to change his water and 2) it's not big enough for him to fit his whole body in.

Larger plates, bowls, etc left in his cage for the purpose of bathing were ignored. Me splashing around in the water to demonstrate how it was to be used got him suspicious and flicking some drops on him just annoyed him.

Previous attempt at misting was met with this pathetic look of defeat. ("Nowhere to go, I guess I'll just sit here with my head down and my wings glued to the side of my body... and I'll watch this crazy person dance around and squeal 'yay, showers are fun' over and over while she's getting me wet")

But today, after I got half way through the bottle he pulled his head up high, gave out a chirp and lifted his wings! Hooray. So then we both danced around and squealed "yay, showers are fun" and "Stewie is a good bird!" in each of our respective languages. And for the first time since he got here, he got thoroughly soaked.

Okay, but here are some questions, so this isn't a totally gratuitous and self-congratulatory post:
- Should I leave a plate of water in his cage when I'm gone for the day so he can get more thoroughly wet than he does in his water dish? Is this safe to do?
- Anyone else have a problem with their "shower perch" not sticking to the shower wall (bathroom tile)? I have to stick the perch on the mirror and then get water everywhere.

p.s. Of course I have to include a picture of my wet birdie, because nothing is cuter than a wet parrot.

[Tommaso]

Very cute picture of Stewie. His colors are so vibrant.

Morena

[ROYJOY]

tiki has a large dog dish, he can get in, and its too heavy to knock over or move. but he likes to shower with me. i found a mini bird bath at a grocery store. looks just like a classic yard bath, but it's about 15" high and the bowl part is about a foot in dia. its ceramic. it's on a plastic table in my livingroom no birds would go near it, so i put seed in it, now the fly there for seed. eventually, when they all get used to it, i'll start putting water in it insted of seed. hope the get the hint.

[jenseits]

Today I put him on the stand for a good misting and he looked miserable again. He tolerated it, but didn't enjoy it.

I don't think he's ready to get into the shower yet. Very scary!

[Valo's Moirana]

at the beginning the periods can be up to a week between baths... as he starts liking it, they'll become more frequent... valo and bella both were a little skeptical at the beginning of baths, now they'd bathe every other day if they could.
i wouldn't leave the water in while you're gone - call me paranoid, but i'd just be worried (and since you asked the question it seems like you'd be too ).

regarding the shower - i had valo for a year before he started taking showers with me... now he loves it.

good luck - and great "wet birdie pic"

ps: shower perch doesn't stick to my shower tiles either

[ROYJOY]

thats funny, tiki likes the shower but is scared to death of spray bottles and misters.

[Valo's Moirana]

valo absolutely HATES misters and spray bottles - LOL

[Busguy]

because nothing is cuter than a wet parrot

Absolutely agree!!!

[tielmama]

Stewie is a great looking wet birdie!
Is that Sage in the last picture? Now THAT is funny. What a cutie.

[jenseits]

Originally Posted by tielmama

Stewie is a great looking wet birdie!

He's actually not that wet in the pic above. He gets much sillier looking when soaked