leo hates water

[birdnew]

Hey quaker fans, I'm a brand new bird owner and message member. Little Leo is approx. 5 or 6 months old. So far, he is very quite, rarely makes a sound....knock on wood!! We've had him for a week tomorrow. I've read that birds should be given baths quite often, that this could be a deteriorate from feather plucking. We've tried putting a bowl of water in front of him, but he quickly climbs up my arm to escape it. I've splashed to try to create interest but up he goes!!! We've gotten a spray bottle and sprayed him, but he hates it. Tonite he actually lundged at the bottle. I don't want to stress him, will he eventually come around, or does my bird just hate water?

advice?

[MonteDucklo]

Hi, CONGRATULATIONS on LEO! My boy is new too, we'll be at 2 weeks this Sunday! It sounds like he's doing great so far! Don't worry about his dislike for water right now, it will take him a little longer to get comfortable enough to do that. It'll happen! As he continues to settle in, he'll feel at home in his surroundings and start wanting to do stuff like this. If I were a bird I think I'd need about 6 months to begin relaxing with the people, lol!

One thing to try. If you are very comfortable with him, or when you are very comfortable handling him, one thing you can do is to set him up on the shower rod to perch while you shower. You may want to have a family member on call in case he spooks off the rod. Or you may want to start out byt just getting him used to sitting up there without a shower going on. Then when you can shower with him up there, just let him watch you have all of the fun in the shower! Chances are that he will want to get in on the fun soon, if not that day. I've heard bathing is a very social activity for these birds, so if he sees you in it he's likely to think it's okay for him, too. Especially as he bonds to you!

I haven't taken Toby in the shower yet but my tiel Ducky just adores it. It's fun! Plus it's good fodder for my husband to make fun of me.

[hollyhawkz]

Welcome to BirdBoard both of you!

[LovelySydney]

HI & welcome, congrats on Leo!! Regarding the water thing, my parrotlet hates water. He will not bathe, will not let me mist him and will not get near it unless he wants to drink it. So far I have had no luck with getting him to like water so I have no advice but to give it time. Hopefully he will come around. Some seem to love water, others are a different story!!

[Michelle & Fids]

I think with more time to get settled he will learn to love baths. All 3 of my Quakers prefer a bowl over any other way. They often bathe themselves in their water dishes, but you can also offer a bowl on top of the cage or in the bottom. More often then not they don't want to bathe when you want them too, so just keep offering the bowl.

[birdnew]

Hey MonteDucklo, thank you so much for the shower advice. My daughter decided to give it and try and it seems we took a step forward. He didn't exactly take to it immediately, he flew out over the top and she had to retrieve him, but then he decided sitting behind her neck might not be so bad after all!! They both came out wet and happy!!!