my Alex is afraid of water?

[debbielabella]

Sophie, she was over 2 yrs old when I got her. She was kept in a smallish cage with her sister since birth, and I noticed her sister wasn't letting her go near the food bowl. Her sister was very outgoing and Sophie was deemed 'not pet quality'. Guess with one picked me.. yup.

Her biggest issue was she hated being in a cage. The bird store was pretty good, they took the birds out every day, however, she never had a cage of her own because she had to share the small one with her sister so never thought of a cage as her safe place. At first she would not come out of her cage, then she would not go back in. I bought her a large indoor/outdoor aviary.
Product
and that helped ease her pain, however she became fiercely territorial over it.

Anyway, Sophie has come a long long way from the scary bird who would draw blood anytime I wanted to put her back in the cage. In the beginning I tired of the bloody bruises and wore gardening gloves. Big mistake she only bit harder. Got rid of the gloves and she eventually stopped biting, for the most part. She steps up for me 90% of the time too now so I am feeling good about her progress.

So now she is a happy goofy bird with a smile on her face. BUT she is afraid of water. I tried dripping it from my fingertips over her, tried spraying her, bringing her onto shower perch where she would get just a little water, but she gets scared whenever water hits her.

How do I get her over this? What is a preferred way for an Alexandrine to bathe? My smaller birds prefer shallow dishes but I assume her size, she would like being sprayed. What do you think of this thing, is it worth the money?
A Misty Mate Fine Mist Bird Bath Mister for Birds Parrots: WindyCityParrot.com, Bird Food, Parrot Food, Parrot Cages, Aviaries, Parrot Supplies,Bird Toys

Here are some pictures of her happy self. I posted some pics a while ago when she was still withdrawn.

[debbielabella]

I hate to reply to my own question, but today when I had her on her shower perch and she was excited to be there, I knew that eventually she will be brave enough to get wet in the shower, but it has to be on her own terms. Just like everything has been in the past, I can't rush anything with her. So please ignore my silly question.

[Ringneckmom]

Glad you were able to answer your own question.

My ringies like to bathe in their water dish - Yuck.

Everytime I start bathing them wither using a mister or taking them to the bathroom - I have a few that will run for the hills every time. It is actually quite funny. You would think thay were being killed.

I guess you just have to persist and maybe some day they will like it better.

[debbielabella]

ah.. OK so this is normal for a ringneck. She is so unlike my other birds!

Is the quiet chirp as a warning sound normal? When she wants me to back off or he's mad at someone for touching her stuff she will pin her eyes and very quietly make a quiet squeak or chirp sound and I know she means business.. does yours do that?

[djzenjen]

I'll go ahead and chime in anyway...

Koa HATES it when I have the shower nozzle on mist and pointing at him. He'll stand there like a turkey in the rain... staring up with his mouth wide open. He wants nothing to do with a water dish or the bathtub either. But when he sees me with a spray bottle, he'll go nuts! He'll start fluffing up and he'll open his wings up to get ready. Every bird has their own way they like to get wet.

My grey on the other hand, will not go near any type of contained water unless it is her water dish. She freaks out if I try to spray her, and the shower is out of the question. If I bought the pump thing and tried to mist her, she would flip out. (lol) Not to mention the water bottle is only a couple of bucks and my hand muscles have become rather strong.

[debbielabella]

thanks, I thought it was just Sophie that was funny about bathing! I feel a little better knowing it's not that unusual. Maybe I will try the spray bottle near her rather than on her. I will have to get a new one though because she recognizes the one I have as an enemy!

Just want to mention she is gentle as can be on my shoulder. I know that sounds odd, but I think when she was in the birdstore she associated stepping up with going back into her cage and here I try to make sure most of the time stepping up is to go do something fun like sharing breakfast or doing laundry.. lol.

[Ringneckmom]

It actually doesn't sound strange for them to be gentle on the shoulder. A lot of birds are, but the ones that aren't ... OUCH!!!
Ya just got to know your bird.

As far as the noise she makes - Not sure - would have to see a vid of that.
But I do know that when those eyes pin up really small then yeah, tread cautiously.

Course I swear you can look at them and just tell if the pinning is cause they are pissed or just interested in something. Others might not agree with me on that though. :)

[Laura65177]

My baby Alex bathes in his dish and i take him in the shower with me. =]

He used to hesitate, i consulted my bird shop owner/expert he said try turn on the vacuum cleaner, sometimes birds get anxious if they think they wont have any breeze to dry their feathers (not able to fly with wet feathers D: )

so i turned on the above fan in shower/hair drier
worked a treat.

[debbielabella]

Thanks for the suggestions Laura. She decided to bathe in her water dish the other day. It was warm and the sun was shining in her cage from the window. She likes going in the shower with me but doesn't like to be close to the water in there, and the fan is on while I shower. Since she seems to like bathing in a dish more, hopefully I will be able to get her to bathe in a shallow dish of my choice rather than her water bowl! She seems to prefer shreaking when the vacuum is running to bathing.