Showers

[Alyse]

I've heard that p'lets are more likely to bathe if you bring them into the shower with you, since you're their flock and they want to do what the rest of the flock is doing. Do any of you do this and if you do, how do you to it? Do you have a perch for your p'let, do you let them perch on your hand or something? Let them sit on the bottom? I've seen some perches that are made for this and suction to the side of the shower, but if most of you don't recommend or haven't had any luck with this, I'll save my energy for something else. I don't want to try really hard to get him to do something he'll probably never like.

[birdiemom]

I would be afraid to to take a tiny P'let into the shower. Paulie lets me know when it's bathtime. He will only tolerate it about every 3 weeks. The he will attempt to get into his water dish (he doesn't fit!) So I just take a plant mister and start spraying him. He jus comes over to the side of his cage and fluffs up into a little green ball and soaks up the water. This way he gets VERY wet and there is no chance he will drown or fall and get hurt in our big shower.

[musicjan]

I've done the plant mister thing as well. Bitsy doesn't love it, but he tolerates it. He often tries to bathe in his water dish - it's pretty cute! We have a sprayer on our kitchen sink that can be adjusted to be very slow and gentle. The other day I took him in there and gently sprayed him with that. I think he might have actually enjoyed it. I feel good about doing either since our house is EXTREMELY dry during the winter.

[ArtS]

This is what I posted in another thread:

I use one of our older, smaller cages (make sure the tray is out so water doesn't collect in the bottom) and a hand held shower attachment on a gentle setting with the water temp very slightly warm (probobly 80 degrees F). Try to keep it out of their noses and beaks (a little will not kill them but the less ingested, the better). When you are done, wrap them up in a towel until and hang out with them until they are mostly dry. Once they finish preening, they should look great.

Repeat every two weeks or so for best results.

Regards,

Art S.

[ArtS]

Jan,

I saw your comment on the dry house. Do you have forced air? If so, a humidifier makes a dramatic difference. I installed a whole-house unit above my furnace at the beginning of the winter - it really works!

Regards,

Art S.

[musicjan]

I wish, Art. We're living in an 85 yr old house (until May) that has not water heat - boilers in the basements, but unfortunatly, wall radiations - not the kind you can set a pot of water on. I have a humidifier that we use downstairs, and it will use up the 2 1/2 gallon water reservoir 3 times a day - maybe more. We've just stopped at 3 refills. The old house (which is on an historic street) has been fun, but there are certain things we won't miss. Thanks for the idea, though.

[ArtS]

Jan,

I know what you are going through with the rooom humidifier - we did that last year. I hope you don't have this problem when you get to the new house.

The best thing about the unit I installed is that there is almost zero maintanace - change the filter/screen at the beginning of the winter and set the humidity level. That's it, nothing else required! (unless it gets too cold; then we need to turn down the humidity to reduce the condensation on the windows)


Now back to the shower discussion...

Regards,

Art S.

[musicjan]

Lots of typos in my post, Art. Good for you for being able to decipher it! I'm very interested in the unit you installed, and will look into something similar when we have central heat/air again.

[SpikeTheSuperbird]

I love to watch dad shower. I sit on top of the shower door and hang out while he washes. Whenever he's finished, he always offers his hand to me and if I need a shower, I just climb on and he puts me under the spray. He usually puts his fingers around me so that the spray doesn't hit me too hard. Sometimes he turns me over and carefully makes sure my tummy gets washed too. I'm also learning how to spread my wings under the water so that they get clean too, but sometimes dad has to help with that.

Spike the Superbird

[Kathy]

Nemo goes into the shower with me. This is the only way he'll bath -- he hates the mister. I bought a small shower perch from ebay for him. I position him further so that the water doesn't hit him too hard.