Stink Feet

[chucky]

Hello there BB!!! I havent been around in awhile,and have been doing great with my GCC.He now at almost 7mos. knows how to do the turn-around trick and waves!Now my concern is that i always have been close to him/her since the arrival,I was very close to him/her physicaly and noticed his smell,now that times past for awhile i noticed him starting to smell like a normal birdie,and not a baby no more.But i also noticed his feet smell odd!!So i went around his cage sniffing it and found only ONE thing that smelled similar it was his cozy/comfy perch the rope one,it smelled bad too!!And i think i kn ow why,he always eats/drinks water then rubs his face off on the rope daily!And i believe the water being added then drying repeadidly did this.BUT how do i get his feet to stop smelling now,I removed the perch and he takes baths almost daily but wont take it outside his water bowl,that i end up have to change 2-3 times daily!His feet smell like an odd mildew,mold sorta smell not a poopy stink.And i think he just needs his feet cleaned like a 2 yr. old kid,but i want to do it right,and safely his cage is also cleaned and he does not walk on no poop as his cage is clean.So i dont get his stinky feet,My budgie is 4 yrs old and smells just fine and has no stinky feet,I think he needs a foot washing for sure since he holds his foods etc etc,but what to use besides plain water?I tried plain water like when he baths but to no avail.

[TJ Relic]

So he takes his baths in his drink bowl? Maybe if you got him one of these where he can't really get into it. I have a similar one, can't find a link to the exact thing.

I don't know about getting rid of the smell though.

[chucky]

Yea,he likes jumping in his water dish after he drinks,which is why i gotta change it a couple times a day.But im not quite sure how to go about getting the light smell off his feet!I just wanna give them a cleaning,his feet appear very clean but you can smell his feet when giving him kisses.I think he just needs a feet wash.But i dont know whats safe to clean his baby feets with.He is semi allright with me tryin to wash them i just need to know what i should use to cleanse his feet,because any normal soap is obviously outta the question,so shoot me some safe cleansing methods! P.S I wouldnt be worrying about the smell if i didnt know that it obviously means he needs his feet cleaned cuz no birds feet i had smell like that.

[ReneeE]

Original Dawn dish soap is safe to use, it is used on the birds when there is an oil spill. If you were using 1 gallon of water you would add 1 teaspoon of Dawn so for a foot bath cut this down accordingly.

Wash the perch in the dish washer but don't handle it by the ends afterward otherwise as they may come off as the glues will have softened. No soap or vinegar and allow it to air dry. OR put in a pillowcase in the washer followed by the dryer and some towels to deaden the noise I believe others add a little detergent here.

[PowerBBS]

You know what... our GCC used to take baths in his bowl all the time. We cured it by cleaning out the sink and just placing a plate in the sink and filling that plate with water. Then we placed the GCC on the plate and stood there. Eventually the GCC started to take his bath in the shallow water. Don't ask me why, but he won't take a bath in anything than just cold water. Warm water and he's not interested.

Now after a couple of years, everytime we wash dishes (daily) he flies to our shoulders demanding a "plate bath". If we don't take him out of his cage during dish washing time and a couple days pass before he gets his "plate bath", then he'll still jump in his water dish. But, we try to keep up the daily or every other day bathing cycle with him in the sink to avoid that.

The nice part about a plate is that it leaves tons of room for flapping and the entire time their feet are in the water and they don't freak out thinking they're gonna drown. We actually trickle a small stream of water onto the plate as he baths. He flaps and goes wild in the water and we just sit there and watch. Once he's done he'll stand on the edge of the plate and await a helpful finger to get him out of the sink. When we get him out we put a towel on the back of the couch and set him atop that. He will typically rub his head and such to dry himself a bit quicker all over the towel.

Just a thought. It took about 4 or 5 tries to get him into the sink (different attempts), without him going nuts to try and get out, I think we even ran his head under the water stream a few times, before he finally tried to take the bath. All it took was once, and then he was hooked. It's good to get them trained young as once they start to get older it seems a bit more of a battle to train them.

[chucky]

Ok great!! The dawn thing and the new bath location are both on the to do list!I figured original dawn might end up being the choice since as u said they use it on oil spill birds.I will try both and let you all know how it goes.Thx

[Valo's Moirana]

you could also provide 2 water dishes - that's what i have for valo... in case he decides to bathe in one dish, he still has the other one....
regarding the smell - there is a change in smell when they grow up... they start smelling a little more birdie-like if you wanna call it that. it's normal...
see if he wants to bathe in the sink, like power suggested.... valo prefers the sink (bella still tries to fit into her water dish i haven't had the courage yet to tell her that she's too big for it don't wanna hurt her feelings)
did you remove the perch? if you did, the smell of his feet should go away.... and if not, the dawn thing should work...

the water provider TJ Relic suggested is something i would NOT use - just heard on another board, that you have to watch closely that it's turned the right way; otherwise it doesn't supply anything (the person had lost 2 budgies because of it)

[Raylene]

We have problems also our macaws dirty there water, i have to fill the dishes loads each day, i have tried 2 dishes and they still manage to dirty both. I have also tried a water bottle with the one he drank out of it ok but the he chewed wire of that was holding it on.

Can anyone recommend a bottle that would be suitable for our macaws

[TJ Relic]

Originally Posted by PowerBBS

The nice part about a plate is that it leaves tons of room for flapping and the entire time their feet are in the water and they don't freak out thinking they're gonna drown. We actually trickle a small stream of water onto the plate as he baths. He flaps and goes wild in the water and we just sit there and watch. Once he's done he'll stand on the edge of the plate and await a helpful finger to get him out of the sink. When we get him out we put a towel on the back of the couch and set him atop that. He will typically rub his head and such to dry himself a bit quicker all over the towel.

For the longest time I thought Rigel hated the sound of running water in the sink. He'd go nuts at the sound. Then I was washing his food dish in a clean sink with him on my shoulder, and he bounded down into the water! So now I take his flat plate and put it in the sink and he bathes just the way you say. Its adorable and he gets much wetter.

As far as the water bottle being closed, that does happen but you just make sure that its twisted right when you refill it every day. It doesn't twist around on its own.

[chucky]

Well im armed and ready to go!As for the question on the perch,I took it out as soon as i smelled it!I almost puked it now smells like a wet gym sock,I may try to clean it or just buy a new one but havent decided lol.I didnt notice a difference in the smell of his feet since its been outta the cage though.And i did notice the day he lost his baby bird smell,But his feet shouldnt smell like the perch cause it just STINKS!Well he'll be happy tomorrow,Maybe one of these days ill get the work done to see if he a boy or girl so i can just know.But i really dont want him bein pricked with anything,especially after i felt bad the first time he went through it to check his health.Thx again BB