# Cockatiel doesn't and won't bathe?!??



## mlj722

I'm not sure what to do anymore...

The first time I tried bathing my Cockatiel, I noticed that he was dipping his head into his water dish, so I quickly picked him up and moved him to the sink where I warmed up water and lowered the pressure and placed my hand under the flow till the water was falling like slow rain into the sink. When I put Enzo in, he gladly went under the water, held his wings open, and stayed there till he was completely soaked and I had to take him out cause he was so wet. (Unfortunately he hates blankets and towels so he was wet FOREVER. Haha). 

However, every other time I've tried to bathe him, he won't do it anymore! He just tries to climb out or tries to fly onto me! I've tried holding him under the water when he's on my finger in case he was nervous, but that didn't work either. 
So then I tried a spray bottle, but he obviously hates it cause he flies away when he sees it...

Then I tried filling the sink very lowly with water, but he seems to not know what to do cause he'll either run out, try to fly to me, or drink from it and then try to climb out. 

Is there anything I can do? Every site says that they need to be bathed and he's ALWAYS constantly preening himself, so I can't help but think he's dirty but I don't wanna force him and freak him out...


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## Haimovfids

First: cockatiels aren't always in a mood of a bath. It seemed like you had him in a good moment when he was trying to bathe in his water bowl. 

Just want to state here that birds do not need to be towel dried after a bath. It is actually better if you don't dry them. It will encourage preening and is good for their feathers to dry on their own. 

From your description, he sounds like a bowl bather instead of the spraying type. I would get those bird bathing bowls and let him bathe on his own. 

If after you buy it and he still won't bathe, you can always put him in a smaller cage and force bathe him. In the wild, cockatiels were in the rain whether they liked it or not. It's natural to them. 

Last. Don't worry so much about getting him to bathe. Bathing does help lower dust and makes molts easier for them, but it's not so much for dirt purposes. Cockatiels are generally clean animals. They preen to distribute the oils from the gland to their feathers. It's good that he's preening.


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## mlj722

Haimovfids said:


> First: cockatiels aren't always in a mood of a bath. It seemed like you had him in a good moment when he was trying to bathe in his water bowl.
> 
> Just want to state here that birds do not need to be towel dried after a bath. It is actually better if you don't dry them. It will encourage preening and is good for their feathers to dry on their own.
> 
> From your description, he sounds like a bowl bather instead of the spraying type. I would get those bird bathing bowls and let him bathe on his own.
> 
> If after you buy it and he still won't bathe, you can always put him in a smaller cage and force bathe him. In the wild, cockatiels were in the rain whether they liked it or not. It's natural to them.
> 
> Last. Don't worry so much about getting him to bathe. Bathing does help lower dust and makes molts easier for them, but it's not so much for dirt purposes. Cockatiels are generally clean animals. They preen to distribute the oils from the gland to their feathers. It's good that he's preening.


I had no idea! Thank you so much! I'll definitely try that.


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## tielfan

He's a baby, and babies have to learn how to bathe - it's not something that they instinctively know about. My babies always HATE mist baths at first. But I figure that if they were out in the wild they wouldn't have any choice about getting wet when it rains, so I spray them anyway. Eventually they realize that it feels good and start lifting their wings for it. Sometimes it takes more than one session for this to happen.

If you leave a wide shallow bowl of water sitting out in a place where he likes to hang out, it's possible that he will decide to explore it, and climb in on his own. This is actually how my fledglings learn to drink water - I put a bowl out, they decide to play in it, and while they're splashing around they stick their beak in the water and discover that it's drinkable.


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## mlj722

I'd like to thank you again for your advice, for you were correct when you said that he must've not been in the mood. 

He was actually only preening himself so I decided to try again, and when I put him in the sink this time he actually instantly fluffed and ran under the running water and once again played around and got himself completely soaked. (He even smells like a wet bird now. Haha.)


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## Janalee

*bathing cockatiel*

Sweet picture! Bennie likes to bathe in an old pie dish on top of his cage, but only if he's in the mood. then I mist him while he's bathing as the dish is not deep enough for him to duck his head into. He seems to like that. Sometimes when I am doing dishes, he'll come and sit on the dish drainer and try to get into the sink. When he does that I always get his bath pan ready for him since he just "told" me he's ready for a bath!


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## Lore

Haha, that's one wet birdie! I'm happy for you that you managed to let him bathe again 

I bathe my tiel in the shower! I just take him with me on my hand or shoulder, put the water to luke warm, and get in the shower with him on my hand. I extend my arm and let the water run over part of my arm so he can decide if he wants to bathe or not. When he does, he'll just walk over to where the water falls down on my arm and sit there for a while getting soaked, and then goes back to my hand. 
Mine too, definitely had to learn to bathe, but he seems to be enjoying it more and more each time I do take him to the bathroom for a shower


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