10 tips for getting budgies to take a bath

I’ve already written a post with 5 bathing methods, but I’ve found in the intervening months that there are way more bath types to try, which is great, because your budgie will probably only find one or two of them acceptable. Getting budgies to take a bath can be a challenge, but the reward of your budgie getting clean and loving it is well worth the struggle. Keep in mind that you may have to offer the bath type several times over the course of weeks before your parakeet decides to give it a try.

1. The hanging bath – hanging wet greens inside the cage can be a very comfortable way for your budgie to bathe. Not only are they in the safety of their own home, but the wet greens tap into the part of their wild brain that sees it as a very natural way to bathe. I have written a post about how to make a hanging bath, there’s a learning curve and you want to make sure the bunch is secure enough to withstand multiple budgies’ weight and quite a lot of abuse.
2. Misting – get a small misting bottle and gently spray your budgies with water. Make sure to completely empty and dry the bottle in between uses so it doesn’t get mold. Depending on how your budgies react you can either spray lightly above their heads so they barely notice, or you may be able to spray them more directly. Some parakeets grow to really enjoy bathing this way. Not mine, so much, but I know they are out there!
3. Shower perches or putting the entire cage in the shower. To be fair, I haven’t tried either of these, every time I try taking our parakeets into the bathroom they lose their stuff. We have a big mirror that’s flat to the wall in there and I think it’s just too much for them to deal with
   a. Shower perch– these seem to be mostly intended for larger birds to me, but I have heard of budgie owners showering with their birds. I think the key here is that the birds are not directly under the flow of the water but are adjacent and get a nice warm mist.
   b. Putting the entire cage in the shower – If you have a small enough cage, or a large enough shower, this would be an efficient way to clean both cage and budgies at once. My main cage is way too massive to even consider attempting to put it in the shower. Additionally, I have a hard time imagining my parakeets dealing with all the stimulation gracefully. I also don’t know how the heck you would get it completely dry afterwards, and I think you’d have to remove most toys and perches beforehand. But, I feel like it warrants a mention because every time people talk about baths someone chimes in and says this is their go-to.
4. Greens on a shallow plate – get some dark leaf lettuce, kale, or any other green, wash thoroughly and lay them out on a shallow plate, pour just a little water over the greens and plate. The first few times we did this I had to lure the parakeets into the water with millet but once they were there they got the picture and bathed. Like the hanging bath, this probably feels very natural to them.
5. Cup your hands under a running sink – make sure the water pressure isn’t too hard and the water is not very hot. If you cup one hand at first and have your other hand splash around in the water it may be easier to generate interest. My budgies will sometimes go for this, but they usually just drink a lot of water and do no bathing at all! You also don’t have to involve your hands at all, but could put a shallow Tupperware, bowl or whatever they like under the flow of water.
6. Shallow Tupperware or bowl – Either with greens or without, whatever is preferred. I offer shallow bowls of water a couple of times a week and every so often Kelly will just hop in and take a very good bath with no warning. It probably only happens about once a month but she gets completely soaked and it’s lovely.
   
7. The Lixit bath – I don’t know what it is about this bath but I’ve never seen a bad review. (In fact, here’s my review). It’s easy to install and if you mount it on the outside of your cage you get very minimal water mess inside. I think the budgies like bathing high up, and apparently, they also like bathing in see through things.
8. Cupped hands with greens – this was the first bath Toby ever took and it was entirely accidental. My mom was over and she offered Toby some wet lettuce as a snack cupped in her hands. Toby hopped on and went into full bath mode, puffed out and deranged looking. She was probably thinking “what took you jerks so long, I’ve felt so dirty”! We’d never seen a parakeet taking a bath before and briefly thought she was broken.
9. Mirror at the bottom of Tupperware – this is a cute variation on the Tupperware and would also work with a reflective bowl. The budgie thinks that she is bathing with a friend and it may help her to get into bathing and/or feel more secure.
   
10. Catit Flower Fountain – this fountain has been all the rage lately in a Facebook parakeet group that I’m a part of, so of course I had to try it too! While I can’t say it was an immediate hit, like it has been for others, we definitely had some intrigued parakeets and they liked drinking out of it. I think it will take a few more exposures before I can render judgement but it was super fun to try and if you have friends with cats you could always gift it to them if your budgies don’t like it.

So there we have it, the extended bath ideas list. I’m guessing that 6 months from now I’ll be posting an update with 20 unique bath ideas! Good luck to everyone out there in getting some cleaned up budgies, don’t let their resistance get you down, just like introducing vegetables and fruits it can take a long time for parakeets to get over their initial trepidation and get down to enjoyment.