How to bathe a budgerigar?

The budgerigar is a cheerful, talkative, mobile bird. For home content, it is considered ideal. These slender, beautiful birds with elegant plumage constantly participate in international exhibitions of decorative birds, where they are often awarded prizes. It is not so difficult to care for wavy lines. Bathing is one of the elements of care.

Budgerigars are naturally clean birds, so bathing birds is not only fun, exciting entertainment, but also a necessary hygiene procedure. They are very good at cleaning feathers themselves. To bathe a bird is just to refresh it with a little water. In nature, parrots bathe in dewdrops on the grass, and this is enough. In order not to harm the pet's health, you need to adhere to simple rules:

• you can start accustoming a parrot to water procedures only after full adaptation to a new habitat (not earlier than a month after purchase), when the pet is already well tamed;
• you cannot force the bird to swim, this will become very stressful, cause fear of water and undermine trust;
• the light in the room should be diffused, so the parrot will be calmer (bright lighting irritates birds);
• for swimming, take only clean warm water without chlorine (bottled or filtered, as an option - settled), the parrot can swallow water when swimming during fun games with water;
• it is allowed to add chamomile broth to the water, this improves digestion and skin condition;
• the room should be warm (at least +20 degrees), all windows are closed and the split system is turned off so that the pet does not catch a cold in drafts;
• do not take a lot of water into the container, the optimal level in the bath is 1.5 - 2 cm;
• do not use a hair dryer to dry after bathing, this greatly dries out the plumage of birds and adversely affects the skin;
• remove the container with water from the cage after bathing so that the bird cannot drink dirty water.

The owner knows the character of his pet, his favorite toys and taste preferences in food.

At home, it is important to properly prepare the bird and take maximum care of positive emotions when meeting water. How the bird will relate to water procedures in the future, to a large extent depends on how you managed to bathe it for the first time. If the parrot is interested, bathing will become a pleasant, integral part of his life.

Be sure to take into account the mood of the bird. If the parrot is “out of sorts”, it is better to postpone the beginning of bathing. Accessories are important too... Often the bird, for unknown reasons, rejects beautiful comfortable bathing suits and stubbornly prefers a nondescript saucer or a simple plastic lid from a glass jar. In such situations, it is better to put up with the choice of a pet and not insist, because it will be much more comfortable for him to use his favorite thing than a branded bathing suit.

The feathered one will observe how the sparkling droplets from the bathing suit are splashing the owner's fingers, and he will understand that it is safe and fun. If the parrot stubbornly does not want to get acquainted with the water, you can start with an empty bath, in which you put your favorite toy, a tasty treat, and fresh herbs. In some cases, the beginning of bathing is facilitated by a mirror placed next to the bathing suit. The feathery will see his reflection in the mirror and decide that he is not alone here. It is more interesting to swim together, and the parrot will decide to enter the water.

You should not rush and push the parrot to the bathing suit, you need to be patient and wait until he voluntarily begins to drop into the bathtub for what lies there. When this happens, you can add a little water to the bathing suit, starting with a scanty amount, gradually increasing the dose. The feathery will not notice how he gets used to it and starts sprinkling water on himself.

For every attempt to play with water, you need to reward him with his favorite "snacks".

You can put a tame parrot on your hand and bring it to a stream of water, quietly running from an open tap. You can put the wavy on your shoulder, go wash your hands with it and deliberately hold them under the water stream, rubbing it calmly. Some "daredevils" themselves jump into the sink and begin to play with the trickle. The owner of such a bird is very lucky - it will not be difficult to accustom him to water.

Some take pets with them to the shower room, and many parrots enjoy bathing with their owner. But if the wavy is not delighted with such a procedure, you should not force him to stay in the shower for the sake of the owner's whim, let him bathe as he chooses.

Before bathing, you need to pay attention to the behavior of the parrot.If the pet does not look completely healthy, it is alarmed by something, chirps loudly and restlessly rushes around the cage, you should not offer bathing at such a moment.

There is more than one way to bathe budgies. The specific choice depends on the characteristics of the character of the bird and the preferences of the owner.

For example, consider how to bathe a bird in a bath:

• prepare a towel, hang it on a heated towel rail (so it will be warm);
• grab the wavy with the thumb and forefinger just above the cheeks (the rest of the fingers hold the bird's body) and lower it to the bottom of the empty bath, without letting it out of the hand;
• open the tap a little, the trickle of water should be thin so that the parrot is not afraid;
• adjust the temperature of the current stream;
• holding the bird with one hand, lightly rinse it with a weak water stream;
• close the water;
• sit the pet on a warm towel and lightly blot the feathers;
• put in a cage.

Ornithologists consider this way of bathing wavy birds the most preferable. If, through an oversight, the parrot is heavily soiled and the contamination cannot be washed off with clean water, you can use a specialized bird shampoo (sold at pet stores). If some of the dirt still remains on the feathers, these feathers must be carefully trimmed off.

If you ignore the basic rules for bathing budgerigars, problems can arise.

Here are the most common ones.

• Haste in accustoming the bird to water procedures. Spontaneous actions should not be allowed, it is extremely difficult to correct negative results.
• Insufficient attention to the indoor regime. As a result, the bird catches a cold in a draft. At the first sign of a cold, urgent veterinary attention will be required.
• Water ingress into the nasal sinuses of the bird. If such an oversight could not be avoided, you must carefully hold the pet upside down for a short time, no more than 10 seconds.

You can bathe a parrot not only with a bathing suit.

This is an easy way to swim, but follow some rules. necessary:

• if the pet is very shy, it is better not to use a spray bottle;
• the spray bottle should not spray water too finely, coarse models bring the procedure closer to natural bathing in the rain in natural conditions;
• the water in the spray bottle should be warmer than during normal bathing, it cools down quickly when spraying;
• remove the feeder from the cage while swimming;
• it is necessary to spray water not on the parrot, but above its head at a distance of about 30 cm so that the water drops flow down onto the bird from above;
• bathing time is 10-15 minutes, but if the bird likes it, you can extend it;
• after the procedure, you can turn on an ordinary table lamp and put a cage under it to warm the parrot a little and dry the plumage.

This is the closest method to natural conditions. The parrot rubs against wet lettuce leaves and grass stalks, while the feathers are moistened with drops of moisture and cleaned. This is how wild parrots bathe in dew on plants. If desired, the pet can nibble on delicious grass and healthy salad.

This method is often used in winter, when the apartments are not warm enough and bathing with water is impossible. Most birds are happy to clean their feathers in sand baths, thereby ensuring the hygiene of plumage and skin. This sand is sold at pet stores. It is not recommended to use ordinary river sand, as it may contain unwanted "neighbors" (larvae, microbes, debris).

Baby powder based on talcum powder is carefully applied to the feathers, and then removed with paper towels or a towel, together with the powder, dirt is removed from the feathers. It should be noted that bird watchers have a preference for hygiene using water. Owners of budgies need to make every effort and try to ensure that the pet eventually considers water procedures to be fun games and anticipates them with delight when he sees the owner's preparations for bathing.

Among the wavy ones there are those who come from bathing in indescribable delight. They can be bathed more often, especially in hot summer months, this will help to protect the bird from heatstroke as much as possible.

If you treat your pet kindly and patiently, you can quickly teach it to splash in warm water.e. Volnistic will certainly fall in love with fun games with water and will enjoy swimming with pleasure, giving the owner many fun minutes in the company of a feathered friend, because watching a splashing parrot is pure positive.

How to bathe your budgie, see below.