Lovebird Bath question

[shellyb40]

Hi My lovebird holy wont take a bath in anything other than her water bowl is this normal??

[Enko_chan]

Yes, it sure is. All my birds prefer to bathe in their water dishes, regardless of what else I offer them for bathing,

[linda040899]

Yup! Contrary to the human belief that water bowls/dishes are for drinking, in the mind of a lovebird, it's the perfect place to bathe first and then take a drink if there's any water left in the bowl! Water bowls are also the containers that lovebirds use to make "birdie soup".

[Enko_chan]

Recipe for Birdie Soup:

-pellets
-seed hulls
-any available fresh foodstuffs
-bits of shredded materials
-feathers
-feces

mind you, my lovies generally won't bathe in soup, but they'll drink it. I try not to let them. My lovies also quit making soup when I was away and unable to change their water three or four times daily. Chris thinks its a sign of 'high spirits'.

[Dodo]

My lovie Frodo loves bathing in a shallow saucer; she used to try and bathe in her water dish until I replaced it with a water bottle (long tube with a 'sippy' area big enough for her beak but not big enough to bathe in). Perhaps changing from an open water dish to a bottle might help keep the water cleaner? And offering a separate dish to bathe in should keep your lovie happy, too

[linda040899]

Changing from a dish to a water bottle will solve both problems, but remember not to take away the open water dish until you are sure your lovie knows how to use the bottle. Most pick it up very quickly but just make sure to be safe. Also, make sure you check the bottle to see that the spout is not clogged. Lixit brand of water bottle is about the best and tends to clog the least but I never leave anything to chance......

[Pips mom]

Pip will take a bath anywhere there's water! Not picky at all! where Rudy prefers his water dish. Rudy is a soup maker as well and will put a bunch of his food into his water dish! Pip has never done this, so I guess they all have their own little ways!

[CompassionAk]

I got new water dishes that were easier to move around and placed mine up higher then food dishes and as far apart from the food dishes as I could and knock on wood I haven't had much of a problem with bird soup since.Like Pips mom I have a lovie who will take a bath anywhere,the other day I had a bottle of water with a small cap on it and I put a small amount of water in the cap for him because he was curious what I had and the stinker sat there and took a bath out of this itty bitty water bottle cap.I wish I had thought to get a movie or pics of it.I usually have several water/bath dishes out for the birds and they tend to use them more often then their drinking dishes.

[LovelySydney]

Ohh my little ones were oBSESSED with bathing in the water dishes. No matter if I gave them a nice big bowl, they wanted to squeeze themselves into the tiniest place that held water, lol! Nowadays I just let them bathe and then change the water - whatever makes them happy = )

[HaleBoppPeachyluv]

I try to offer sunny a bath in the sink every couple of days. she has a special saucer & loves the running water... she knows that saucer means "bath". If I don't catch teh day she wants a bath, when i put her new water in her dish (often when the temp is the coldest) i'll turn around and she's half sopped.