Bath Training Tips with a Green Cheek Conure

In today's video I am sharing a single bath training session I had with a little pineapple green cheek conure named Olivia and giving you tips throughout to be successful in training your bird to take a bath!
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217 CEDAR STREET 401
SANDPOINT, ID 83864
MY BIRDS (Oldest to Youngest) 🐦❤
BONDI 💗 Galah | hatched 2005
CRESSI 💗 Congo African Grey | hatched 2007
BANDIT 💙 Galah | hatched 2008-2019 💔
JINX 💙 Blue Throat Macaw | hatched 2008
COMET 💙 Yellow-Dominant Camelot Macaw | hatched 2008
TUSA 💙 Blue-Green Dominant Camelot Macaw | hatched 2008
ROCKO 💙 Toco Toucan | hatched 2011
LILY & PHOEBE & DETKA 💗 Sun Conures | hatched 2011
BLUEBERRY 💗 Budgie | hatched June 2019
😍 ABOUT US 😍
BirdTricks is a husband-wife team; Dave and Jamieleigh Womach specialize in parrot training and companionship.
#parrots #birds #parrottraining

[@catherinelynnfraser2001]

You make shaping the behaviour so sensible. Olivia is gorgeous.

[@BirdBath1]

🥰🦜🚿

[@erkanelibuyuk7328]

Hi l have an indian ringneck. He is very good inside his cage coming to my hand. And he is very good when his cage is not around but when he was on his cage he becomes a bad boy try to bite my hand and no interesting for coming to my hand untill he see a piece of apple:) can you give me an adivesi what should l do ?

[@BirdBath1]

@@erkanelibuyuk7328 look at bird bath

[@nicolesteigerwald6977]

My green cheek would only bathe in the sink, with the drain closed and the water running on low… but she LOVED bathing!! This video is adorable ❤

[@cynthiamay3246]

Jamie, you are so clear about explaining bird behavior! Always informative and entertaining! Thank you!!

[@wtff]

I love green cheeks so much. 💚

[@claiyageil]

Because I have such difficulty with my cockatiel bathing, this was the first thing I wanted to train with my pineapple green cheek when I finally got her confidence level up. So, I started with the spray bottle, which she did pretty well with. What does she do 5 minutes later? Jumps in her water bowl and gets completely soaked and makes a huge mess. I was like well, that was easy. She still bathes like that to this day.

[@GraceT]

All of the green cheeks I’ve hand raised, loved water. They would bathe in their water bowls every day. 😅

[@mariemcgrath8681]

Great little bird.

[@fjdarling]

I have been trying to get my birds to bath. All they seem to do is poop in the water bowl. Jamie has that maternal intelligence to slowly and patiently motivate her bird to approach the water. I've learned so much from just this one video. I don't understand what she is doing with the magic wand and the clicker. Of course I'm a dumb guy when it comes to training my tiny little Cockatiels. Thanks for the video Ms. Jamie

[@Killerina]

I have that same bath for my budgies. At the time I got it I only had one bird and it took him about a week to get used to it. It does vibrate slightly so I think that was a little off-putting. Bathing wasn't the problem because he loved getting sprayed. I would just leave it running whenever he was outside of his cage and eventually he got curious. I did raise the fountain up a little higher by putting a small rubber band towards the bottom of the tube so it doesn't sit all the way in the fountain. Once my second budgie was out of quarantine he learned to use it in a day by observing the other bird. Try figuring out a way to raise up the fountain part because it might make it easier for a larger bird like a conure to go under it.

[@BirdTricks]

I've been wondering how to raise it higher and keep it higher!!

[@afhelton1]

@@BirdTricks I used a piece of PVC pipe that is bigger in diameter and longer than the flower 'stem'. Just put it down in the PVC pipe and it works perfectly.

[@-3lory]

thank you for your inspiration and help

[@lvlc5]

Loved this... now I understand... More videos on Olivia... She is a beauty!

[@BirdBath1]

Absolutely💯 beautiful😍adorable 🐦😍

[@Ansonidak]

Both of my green cheeks have been enthusiastic bathers. Olivia might like something larger for her bath. Mine does.

[@mehere8038]

probably not until she's used to bathing lol. One of my birds still insists on bathing only in a little tin the same size as her. I put the tin into the bigger bird bath, I'm trying to get her used to the bigger one, my other bird loves the bigger one, but little girl wants that security of something small, I would guess Olivia would be the same at this point in time. Baby steps :)

[@ACockatielsSong]

My budgies used to like bathing in their water dish, but only in the mornings. Time of day can be important to the birds too.

[@IOIO6]

0:15 😮 playin space boccia

[@rmarvel169]

I have this for my IRN ! He did bathe in it a few times but then I bought an a play sink for kids & he lovvvves that to bathe in and only drinks from the fountain now 🤣

[@jessieely5363]

I’m very familiar with this fountain. My cat used it to drink out of. Funny how different animals use the fountain differently!

[@Theconures]

My green cheeks love bathing 👌🏻

[@Kristy12255]

Had many rescue green cheeks here in Australia. I have never had one turn down a bath with a good layer of grass and some water.

[@OurGiftedGarden]

This video is great. I just need to be more persistent and consistent with bath training.

[@zunairbirds3984]

Interesting

[@adriennehunt1799]

My blue boy budgie, Willy Wonka Budgie Hunt, enjoys bathing in a few fresh Italian parsley sprigs thrown into the shallow bath. I get drenched when he splashes water ALL over me☔😁🐨🦘

[@SecretSquirrelFun]

Your proximity being a factor is really fascinating isn’t it. I guess if you were a bird too, both at a water source and one of you flew away - the other bird/s would instinctively follow/ fly away too for safety.

[@LevelDroneRCX]

I have two new parakeets. I picked up a much larger cage for them. If I separate them but keep the cages near is it easier to train one bird at a time where the other bird “Grumpy” can observe? Does parakeet sounds being played on KZbin help them to chill?

[@turkey.3035]

So as far as things here from what ive seen you want to choose the one that is more interested in you preferably if one of them is a male gonna be easier usually in budgies but when you get him/her used to being handled then you want to work on clicker training once you clicker train and got the bird place the bird back into the same cage the less friendly one is just for observation once the less friendly one sees the other one which that bird is bonded to sees the one stepping up following target stick and all that its going to usually make the one more brave because a bird no matter what species will always learn better from a bird then a person because of observation they in pairs definitely will not let you pet them well at least the female wont but stepping up is a possibility that will work most likely as long as you spent a bit a day with them both they will probably stay trained maybe 30 mins - a hour after they in same cage but if you want to be on safe side a hour with them both at once birds are very intelligent and this is from what i understand in one of bird tricks videos and ive seen one persons youtube they got a whole room of birds trained everything from small hookbills to finches its impressive and i would imagine this is how the people on some videos in australia get the birds to land on them through one bird being the example.

[@LevelDroneRCX]

@@turkey.3035 Thank you for answering my questions, I’ll have to look up clicker training. It’s a big cage should I put them both in the same cage? It’s a larger cage.

[@mehere8038]

@@LevelDroneRCX If putting 2 birds together for the first time, it's essential to put them into neutral territory, so don't put one bird into that cage before the other! You want them both to be a little uncomfortable & see the cage as new & a bit scary, so that neither is upset at an invader into THEIR cage. When you put them together, be sure to observe them for quite some time after too & even consider leaving a door open on the cage, so that if any fights break out, they're not trapped together. Move their old cages out of the room if leaving a door on the new one open, otherwise they may choose to just return to it. Also, be sure you have at least 2 food & water dishes at opposite sides of the cage & ample of anything they might like, so they don't fight over a particular item there's only one of. They will probably decide on certain areas of the cage that are "theirs" & the rest of the cage being shared space for both of them. That's what mine did anyway & same with other people I know & yes, they like listening to & watching their own kind on videos/audio & in some cases will enjoy other species too. Won't always "chill", with some videos mine get really hyped up & strongly interact with the video birds, which is great social for them, especially in winter, when it's too cold to take my little plucker outside to talk with the wild birds. I have a mix of videos, all sorted into different groups & on a USB to play via my large tv, so I can keep my computer while the birds watch their bird tv :) I have ones that relax them & ones that get them screaming & everything in between

[@ThePrins123]

btw ever thought of checking out Cesar Milan's macaw ? and i know you have a dog ? awesome colab chance. food for thought. also would be awesome watch :)

[@afhelton1]

Every time I turn the faucet on in my kitchen, 2 of my green cheeks fly straight over and jump in the water. They are so funny! However, my other green cheek is terrified of the faucet.

[@justrandomthoughts4233]

Hey! Hope you are well I was wondering if you will be posting cockatiel content any soon? In specific baby cockatiels, mine is way to clingy to train (he doesn’t leave my hand), but he’s so cute!!!

[@BirdTricks]

Currently I am sharing cockatiel project bird content over on Patreon www.patreon.com/birdtricks!

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

Quit while ahead, got it! 🤓

[@mehere8038]

This reinforces that there's lots of things I'm doing right with my bath training with my birds :) The freedom to move away & return is also good to hear/be reminded of, cause it does kinda annoy me the way my birds cage gets SO drenched every bathtime! My bath procedure is to move their cage into the bathroom, open the big door on the cage & put their plastic, outdoor garden birdbath right next to it & then fill with water to the "correct" temperature (around 21c) & my boy then comes out of the cage, onto the edge of the birdbath, with the large door forming a cage extention, so he still feels like he's within the safety of his cage & he tests the water temperature & condition with his beak, then as long as he's satisfied & it's been at least 4-5 days since his last bath, he jumps in, has a splash, then jumps back out & back onto the perch inside his cage, shakes the water off, then jumps back down onto the bird bath & back in for another splash, then back onto the perch in the cage for another shake, then back onto the bird bath & repeats. If it's been 4 days since the last bath, he'll repeat about 5 times, then chew on his mahogany pod to say he's finished. If it's been 5 or more days since his last bath, as long as the temperature's right & as long as I stay by the bath & repeatedly tell him "good girl" each time he jumps in, then he'll keep going for about half an hour & get a really good exercise in the process (which is great, cause he refuses to fly, so it's the only way to get him to actually use his wings in particular). If it's been 3 or less days since the last bath, he will just sit in the cage & look at the bath & at me, no matter how long I leave the set up in place. Once my boy's finished, it's my girl's turn, so I put her tin into the birdbath & fill with bathwater & she comes out, onto the perch on the large door & then lowers herself onto the tin & then dunks her head & in a subdued way has a nice, relaxing bath, splashing around inside the tin & splashing around on the outside of the tin while holding the edges of it. She does sometimes come out earlier, while the boy's still in there, if she's really keen for a bath, but as soon as he splashes she runs back into her cage & sits there waiting for him to finish, so she doesn't get splashed lol. She'll sometimes have a little bit of a go without the tin in there if she's really in a bath mood, but in general, she finds it too big & scary & would rather have her little tin for security, but it's great the way she bathes on the outside of it, holding onto it & hopefully over time I'll be able to get her to use the whole bath without the tin, so she can REALLY get wet & have fun :) Anyway, lots of the stuff mentioned in this video I'm doing in my routine, especially with my boy :) My 2 still won't tollerate a spray bottle, freaks them out, but they do enjoy their bath now, as long as it's not too frequent. They used to be really scared by the idea of that too & I had to start them off with tiny bowls inside their cage & gradually move to outside the cage & they still need that escape option, which kinda makes sense now watching this :)

[@sandymactavish4162]

ķ

[@hwarin070]

I am here!!! My conure is a huge fan of water tho?! Lol each bird is different

[@BirdBath1]

최화린, look at bird bath

[@-3lory]

can you please make a video for bathing a blue and gold macaw? Mine is afraid of a shower/bathtub. I use a plant misting bottle and live in a cold climate so doing it outdoors is not an option.

[@nexusfairy3038]

Can you make a video on how to get your bird off you? My conure is Velcro and I have to take off my shirt everytime to get him on his stand or in his cage. I can't even motivate him with his favorite treats.. he's obsessed with hanging out on my shoulder. I love him and we spend about 12 hours a day together but when it's time for him to go to bed, I wish it wasn't a struggle.

[@yamunadevi68]

You can make the flower higher by putting a band nearer to the bottom of the flower pipe, then it becomes even better for both budgies and conures. At least that’s my experience 😊

[@Eaglelover427]

What kinda treats can I use for my cockatiels to train with? They don’t like anything

[@livetpalandet98]

Could it have made it easier initially if the bath was raised to be higher than the perch? allowing her to step up rather than step down? Anyways - great job with her, you guys do such a great job reading the birds and choosing when to push for a bit more and when to reward and back away!:)

[@sunnycharacter]

I got the same bath for my Quaker but she couldn’t get wet enough for her liking. Lol

[@candycloud3215]

AHHHHHH THATS A PINEAPPLE

[@PalaciosCJ5]

Is there any point that I can confidently take my green cheek conure outside without a harness and not fear him flying off?

[@lubnah3521]

Strange. I couldn't train my canary to do a darn thing for 10 years and she died terrified of my hand. However, she bathed on her own almost right away no problem.

[@stephandpets]

Does observational learning work with anti-social species like caique and Senegal’s?

[@abusdriversvlog5064]

Hi Jamie just watched your video and I have the same issue with my Indian ringneck. The only way he likes to bathe is in his small water bowl. I tried the spray bottle, sink, shower as well and nothing works. Any idea of a setup I can try to have him bathe. He does like Olivia and taste the water in his bowl and boom, he is in there with its wings fully extended but he is too big to fit in the bowl! May be with a bigger bowl? I appreciate any advise from you! Thanks and keep up with great videos.

[@mehere8038]

My girl's like this. I've got her from tiny bowl to bowl she sort of fits inside via using an identical bowl, just a bit bigger. Now I'm working on enlarging by putting that bowl in the middle of a bird bath. I have an outdoor, garden bird bath about 40cms wide, but well set up for birds to use, with easy to grip sides & the right depth for birds. I put that right next to the cage & my boy jumps in & splashes around, then when he's finished, I put my girl's little bowl into the middle of it & the way the cage is positioned, her perch on the large, opening door sits right over the bowl, so she lowers herself from the perch into her bowl in the bigger one & back up again the same way when she's finished, but she actually bathes outside the bowl too, holding onto the bowl with her feet, but putting her body in the water outside the bowl, so as to give herself more space to really flap. She also occasionally climbs out to the edge of the birdbath & sometimes then goes back into the water from there, normally only partly or just to get across to her bowl, but she's getting more & more used to the bigger bowl. Depth is a really big issue I've found, when using a larger bowl, try having it really low in water to begin with, so the bird feels really safe in it, then build up the water level so it goes beyond their legs once they're comfortable with the container. I did that a lot to get my boy into the full bird bath

[@SP-85]

Does she have to bathe in running water?

[@M00Nature]

Weird, my baby pineapple conure loved the waterer when I brought him home. He jumped right in the first day and took baths in the waterer on his own for weeks. Then, all of sudden, he's afraid of it and won't go near it. Have no clue what happened. He does take baths in his bathing bowl in this cage, so he is still bathing, just not in the waterer.

[@Jtothethird]

I have two questions. I have a male parrotlet who will nip at any of us first thing in the morning or when he hears crinkling like from a chip bag and he plucks his crop, left wing and back. Any ideas as to why? For the plucking, we’ve tried everything Vets have recommended and no change.

[@mehere8038]

My boy's obsessed with crinkling from chip bags & now even plastic bags too. I dont' know why either, I think it may relate to hormones & that sets him off, but I really don't know. If you find an answer, let me know! My boy will get nippy around those sounds, but also does obvious hormonal displays along with it, which you haven't mentioned, so not sure it's the same issue or I think you would have mentioned that. While supervised, I sometimes actually give my boy an empty chip packet to play with/in & he does seem to get whatever it is out of his system after a while with it

[@dealman3312]

Can anyone please tell me how to get a lovebird to stop regurgitate feeding various objects in his cage???

[@cherryandmax624]

Bought the same fountain. Has no problem drinking but will not get wet. Tried a hundred different things and no luck. KiKi is a stinky bird.. Help

[@catherinelynnfraser2001]

? Are eating and bathing compatible? When does bathing become its own reward.

[@BirdTricks]

Once you see the bird moreso offering it and enjoying it by fluffing up and such.

[@sunnycharacter]

Also, I ended up taking the flower off, still not big enough for a Quaker. Tried one of those kiddie kitchen sinks. She hated it. So she showers or plays in a plastic tub.

[@mehere8038]

Have you looked at plastic, outdoor, garden bird baths? I bought one of those for my 2. It's a bit annoying to store, but it's perfect for bird bathing (as long as you have somewhere you can put it where it doesn't matter if everything within 2 metres of it in every direction is drenched lol cause those bird baths are really designed to allow great splashing & really getting wet all over! I was using a kitty litter tray before I got the bird bath. Size isn't really that different, but the bird bath they love a lot more, cause of it's sloppy sides & grips on the edges

[@sunnycharacter]

@@mehere8038 I might try that! I end up having her shower with me on a shower perch but then there goes my relaxing shower! Lol really though she is well behaved. I have a sunroom that the floor won’t get messed up so that would be a good room to have it in.

[@mehere8038]

@@sunnycharacter I like hot water for my shower, my birds refuse to get wet in anything over 21c, which imo is f'ing freezing, so no showers together for us lol With you on the relaxing shower thing too :) I've got a walk in shower, so I use that & then just mop the whole bathroom floor after & they want me near while they bathe, so I kinda hide behind the door, just with my head poking round, so I dont' get totally soaked (I still get wet lol). Your sunroom sounds good though :) & I think an actual soaking in a bath is still better than a shower too. I actually bought myself a blow up bath during covid, so I could have nice, relaxing baths instead of showers, that were nice, but nothing compared to how good a bath feels I decided. I think it's the same for birds, that if they get access to a bath, they'll like it more than a shower, I mean wild birds still enjoy swimming in a bird bath, even though they get to have "showers" in the rain :) Check out the "birds & things" channel if you want to see just how nuts some birds go in birdbaths. I actually have the green one the person that makes those videos has & it's a best seller here in Australia, cause it seems to be super popular with the birds. Mine don't wrestle & dunk each other in the way the birds in those videos do though lol I just watch those videos with amazement!

[@sunnycharacter]

@@mehere8038 So, I’m one of those weird ones that prefer a cooler shower, I’m not matured and it is Texas! Lol I have a separate bath, well, two bathrooms, the other is a combo bath tub and shower. However, during the winter I store some huge potted plants in the tub to keep away from our cat. She wants to eat anything green and she would get sick so that’s off limits to her. In the sunroom plants that can’t tolerate winter here are ok if she snacks a bit on them, basil, oregano, rosemary. All that to say, Ivy as a baby started out loving her splash baths, even in the bathroom sink. Then she decided she wanted to shower too, so we alternated. Now, she’s not digging the showers as much, but has to do at least one or the other every day as she has decided to pluck some feathers for the last year, hormones I think. But the baths and showers help along with the Aloe spray I get from BirdTricks. She is on a great diet and that’s a relief. She prefers her splash bath now when we are out in the backyard, she in her outside cage. She loves it out there. But as it gets cooler that won’t be an option until April here. So I need a good option for her splash bath. I thin a legit birdbath in the sunroom will be fabulous! Oh yes, she squeaks and squeals when she plays in the water. I think Ivy is the type to need lots of room to dunk herself!

[@mehere8038]

​@@sunnycharacter lol you're as bad as me, with animals (and plants) totally controlling your house! Sunroom sounds good, since plants & cat already have dibs on the bathroom :) - although birdy may enjoy showering with some natural plant doing so :) One of mine's a plucker too (but sounds much worse than yours). Pretty sure hers is hormones too, but she's actually generally worse after a bath, not better :( I've been thinking recently, I'm not sure if she ever had a bath or shower in the decade before I rescued her. Her & my boy were in separate cages & boy's water dish was big enough for him to kinda bathe in, but she was in a little budgie cage only a few cms longer than her body, with little budgie food & water dishes, so no option there for bathing & I don't think the owner would have known about bathing, given he didn't even do stuff like a cover on the cage or decent sleep times or the right food, or realise there was a problem with such a tiny cage & no entertainment in it! So I do wonder now if that might have been part of what started her plucking. Pretty sure it was primarily that she had a wing injury that was hurting her though, since she has no feathers at all under her wings, seemingly from plucking them for so long that they don't grow back. Would have been horrible to be locked in a cage too small to even stretch your wing for a decade I would guess :( I've tried the aloe vera, mine HATED it, but they hate anything that sprays, I think they may have been sprayed with flyspray to control the ants & cockroaches they brought in in their old home & it probably hurt them & the aloe vera was probably not water enough to remind them of the eye stinging. I don't know, just my theory, cause they really hated it. Oat milk in the bath water they kinda put up with, but got much more into the bath if I didn't add it, so I gave up, especially since trying without it made no difference to the amount of plucking. Mine will bathe for about 2-5 minutes every 4 days, or about half an hour every 5 days, so I go with the 5 days & use it as exercise too, since they really flap in there & girl can't fly & boy refuses to. Less than 4 days & they just look at the water, but refuse to get in, no matter what I do. More than 6 days & they jump in their water dish right on bed time & then refuse to bathe for another 4 days after that lol except when my girl's on eggs, like she is now, then she refuses to bathe for the 28-30 days she's on the eggs, then at the end of that, she'll try to bathe in her water dish & if I then give her a proper bath, she'll have it & then never return to her eggs, kinda like, I'm bathed now, it's over. Weird! Now to April would be far too long without a bath though, even for my little bath refuser! I mean the colour of the water after her 3-4 week bath strike is atrocious! Gotta say, my little girl would probably bathe in ice water if I let her! Mine are happy with temps under 21c, that's just the max I can get them to tollerate & the warmer it is, the longer they'll stay in. My girl will stay in colder water until she's absolutely shivering & stumbling & falling as she tries to get out, cause of how much she's shivering from cold! Sunroom sounds like a MUCH better idea than outdoors in the cold to me though (although my birds would probably disagree lol but they don't get to make choices like that :) I hope Ivy enjoys her sunroom bird bath, sounds like it will be perfect for her :) Hope she stops the plucking before it becomes an entrenched habit too! Just one further tip, if you get a plastic birdbath, just be sure the sides have some grip, or create it. My old one I have in the garden is fine, I think from ageing, but the new one I bought for my 2 rescues was a little slippery on the sides, so I got a knife & made lots of scratches into the plastic to roughen it up. I didn't really want to, for hygiene/cleaning reasons, but the way I've done it I feel is ok for that & it gives just a little grip, that makes all the difference to confidence & ease of use

[@joyrice1350]

Hi Jamie, I would love to see if you could make a video on a healthy homemade diet to feed lorikeets? They are such difficult birds to research since few people own them. My current lorikeet is on a nectar based diet and gets puréed apple, mango, broccoli, spinach, and carrot. He also gets sweet corn and applesauce as a treat. This is what I have heard was a good diet but the sources are so few and far between than I’m not sure how actually good it is:

[@mehere8038]

The best food for lorikeets is "wombaroo". That brand is what all endangered species & rescue groups & other experts in Australia use. It's a sugar based food, rather than soy based, that almost every other "nectar based" foods are. Beyond that, I really don't know what's actually good for them or not, which is why I just stick with wombaroo for my 2, cause they have a lifetime of bad diet before coming to me, so they need the best now imo & wombaroo makes it easy :) Fruit they can get fat on, it's used a lot as part of lorikeet diets, but Australian native fruits are much lower in sugar than imported fruits are. I still give mine a lot of fruit, but I do limit it a bit sometimes, cause my boy's a pig & gets fat on it. I don't puree anything, cause it's really not natural for them & foraging is so important for birds, so I always feed everything whole. It's much messier that way yes, but it's much healthier & more natural for them. Mine get fruit on a "birdie kabob" skewer, currently they're on apply, pear, mandarine & orange, cause that's what's in season & they've got a little bit of banana on it right now too. In summer, they love grapes & stone fruits. Mine also devour Asian greens - or at least the green parts of them, they won't touch the rest. I've found the most efficient way to do them is to have cups with hangers on them & fill them with water & put the fresh bok choy, Chinese brocoli, choy sum etc etc into them & that way they stay fresh for a few days, longer if the water's changed regularly. Mine also love the flowers of those greens, so I choose ones with flowers, or nearing flowers if available & over a few days in the water, the flowers will generally come out & they can eat them as they do. Mine also love kale & broccoli tips, but I tend to stick mostly with the Chinese one, cause it's less smelly in their poo. I also have a number of small pots growing grass & I put them into the cage at regular intervals, especially if they starting to form seeds & they love that! Mine will only really eat carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin etc when nesting & shredding it as nest contents, occasionally having a nibble other times, but not much. Sweet corn I have given in the past, but stopped cause it was fattening for my boy & not great for him anyway. When I first got my 2, as rescues, they wouldn't forage, or touch anything non-edible in their mouths, such as paper or cardboard, but would eat fruit, so I used popcorn to lightly cover their fruit & found they would touch that & pull it out to get to their fruit, which was what I was aiming for :) At some point though, they decided popcorn was even better than the fruit & that became the treat. I still use popcorn as a treat, I find it works well, cause it's nice & big for the size/calories in it, so healthier than things like sweet corn unpopped (just think about the size of 10 kernals of sweet corn, v popcorn) For treats, mine get apple or grape or other fruit juices in a syringe, or just their nectar mix in the syringe, cause they like that almost as much. Grape is their favourite. Purees mine will eat if they're hungry enough, but they really don't like, they like to be able to extract the juice from the fruit/veggies & spit out the pulp. That's what they naturally do in the wild. When my boy escaped/flew off & got stuff at the top of a gumtree, cause he was scared of heights & took 2 days to get himself back down, he made his way down via following a possum & climbing down the lily pilly trees, eating his way down as he moved lol He had a wonderful time eating the lily pilly leaves! I doubt he would have eaten that if he had other options, but in terms of what they eat in the wild, if it's raining & there's no nectar available as a result, fruits & native plant leaves & grass & grass seed is what they eat. They also eat the seed in gumnuts & bottlebrush nuts & there's a tree near me that produces masses of seed pods & the wild ones love those too. My 2 have no interest in eating them though, so I think that's more of a sustenance that's available food than an actual liked one. Anyway, that's just what I do with my 2 :) I also have a wildlife rescue background, for lorikeets in rescue & wild babies being hand raised, we feed them exclusively wombaroo nectarvore mix & if they're sick, we add a little insectivore mix as a protein supplement. We also try to give them fresh grevillias or bottlebrushes at all times if possible & certainly ensure babies have had access to them & understand how to feed from them before release. Bear in mind though that in rescues, they're not in care long term, so if something was missing in the diet, it wouldn't really matter, but this is also what's done by most zoos & long term care facilities too. Nectar mixes that are cheaper & less complete, generally recommend feeding fruit in addition to their food. For those who have found a lorikeet & can't get it to care for a day or 2, we recommend baby cereal, such as farax, mixed with fruit. In the days before wombaroo, baby cereal & fruit was the standard base food used for lorikeets. Anyway, hope that helps. I too wish there was more info on lorikeets, but I do know from my wildlife rescue work that the wombaroo one is really good, just not sure if you can actually get it where you are or not & if so, how much it costs. It is generally more expensive than other brands, but not too bad in bulk imo & well worth it to make sure my 2 are happy & healthy :) Within about a month of switching them from their old diet to their new one, mine were visibly MUCH healthier looking all round! Much brighter colours, no bald looking spots around their eyes anymore, just really looking good! That said, they also moved from an abusive environment to a loving one & also got a UV light & removal of sunflower seeds & addition of veggies in their place, so I can't say for sure which of the changes was responsible for their changed physical appearance, presumably a mix of all. Fruit juice in a 1ml, needle-less syringe is definitely the easiest training treat with lorikeets imo

[@joyrice1350]

@@mehere8038 thank you so much! this helps me immensely you have no idea. I have a wee 9 month old sunset lorikeet, he’s my first bird ever and a bird I never planned to get. However he was dropped off at the petstore I work at at around 6 months of age. In america we do not see lorikeets often so it was a rush to figure out how to care for them. I quickly fell in love with the bubbly personality and was and am still very dedicated to caring for this little guy. The diet is so restricted and difficult though that that’s the part I’m struggling with the most. I tried finding the food you recommend on Amazon and unfortunately I cannot find it. I don’t think I will be able to find a quality nectar for him in America as all the nectars available to me online start with soybean as the first ingredient. I will take all of your other recommendations though and hope that that will complete his diet. Thank you again very much. Also feel free to follow my bird on Instagram @eggs.ythelorikeet ☺️

[@mehere8038]

​@@joyrice1350 They have an awesome personality! Very hyperactive, but one of the best little parrots in that regard imo. Messiness is their only real downside. Note on that, don't use pellets with lorikeets! Some people sell pellets as a way of "reducing mess" by making their poos more solid, that's basically giving them permenent constipation for their human's convenience, so while pellets can be good for other birds, for lorikeets, they're a big no-no! If you find it does start to get too much for you, see if you can find another lorikeet to buddy it with. Any lorikeet of a similar size will be fine. Lorikeets are VERY partner driven birds, in the wild, they pair up for life & when one dies of old age, the other usually dies of grief soon after. They do EVERYTHING together & are always there for each other. Flock dynamics change a lot, but lorikeets in the wild will all have their own partner, who they are always with. This & their general hyperactivity can make them a very challenging bird to keep on their own, if paired up, they'll still have plenty of energy for their human, but will be able to use that excess energy they have to play with another bird with the same excess energy levels :) If one of the opposite gender's not available, that's fine, 2 boys or 2 girls can still preen & play with each other in a way that gives them a very satisfying relationship :) Rare they don't get along with another lorikeet (of similar size) if introduced to it too, I know some birds can be picky with who they like, but lorikeets just love another bird to spend their life with. Cause of how messy they are, even though rare, it's likely you would be able to find another one in a shelter, needing a new home. Some people do pair them up with other species of a similar size, I honestly can't say how that works, I just don't have that experience. If you can find another lorri if you want a pair for yours, that would be better, especially cause, as messy, hyperactive birds, they do get dumped a lot. They are very easy care attention wise if they have a bird buddy, that's why I'm sharing this so much, cause rehomings from exhaustion from them can be avoided to a large extent just by adding a second one I'm in Australia, here it's rainbow lorikeets that are the most common, both in the wild & as pets. Makes sense it could/would be sunset lorikeets there though, cause they're from Indonesia, who have much less enforcement of native animal smuggling compared to Australia, so a lot more make it out of the country & into international pet trades. Rainbows & sunsets are basically the same though, just slightly different colouring (and rainbows are plentiful, while sunsets are endangered, due to smuggling :( If you want to watch videos of them, search rainbow lorikeets to see basically the same thing :) Also, lorikeets love watching & listening to lorikeets on video, so that's a great activity for yours, especially if you only have one. I've got a bunch of lorikeet playlists on my channel, that I've found, searching here for every lorikeet video I can find to entertain mine, so if you want to shortcut the process, feel free to grab them :) In summer mine spend a few hours on waking, outside chatting with the wild birds (ie screaming lol) & then settle down & are quiet for the rest of the day, just chattering really softly to each other. In winter, cause one of mine's a plucker, they get video birds instead of real ones & again, a few hours of screaming to them on waking, then they settle down & are nice & quiet for the rest of the day, so it keeps the peace with the neighbours :)) (mind you, given there's wild ones everywhere here, the neighbours can't really complain about lorikeet screaming anyway lol but mine are time shifted to my routine & so do stay awake after my elderly neighbour's gone to bed, so I need to make sure they're quiet at that time of day) On the diet, try ebay as well, here it's pretty plentiful with options, not sure if they'd ship there or not. Make sure you get at least the 1.5kg pack, anything less than that is just wasting your money, cause it really won't last, so I really wouldn't buy less than that at all! I buy the 4.5kg or 9kg pack, cause it's by far the best value for money, especially with postage prices factored in. If you can't find it, or it's price prohibitive (which it probably is), I'd try to get a good bird multi vitamin in it's place. Again I like wombaroo, cause they're the experts, that company was set up by wildlife rescuers fed up with the lack of good food options & they did it really well, employing scientists etc to develop the nutritional foods for all species. Animals like kangaroos & koalas basically used to just die under a certain age/weight before they came onto the scene & actually made milks suitable for them & lots of multi-vitamin supplements i've seen for birds have conserningly high levels of some vitamins that can cause harm in excess. Wombaroo's multi-vitamin is called "Multi-vite for Birds" & is a white & yellow/orange bottle/container. I think you should be able to get hold of that with enough searching & 1 bottle will last you years, so cost effective dietary insurance :) You could try talking to zoos or other display places that keep lorikeets too & seeing what they use/where they source it & even if they can sell you some of theirs. If you can't find a good food, the home made ones to use are ones that contain baby cereal as their main ingredient, as that's about the most digestible protein/nutrition you will get for lorikeets. Another idea, are there proper, nutritionally balanced foods for hummingbirds available there? They may be suitable for lorikeets, not sure, both are high energy nectar eaters though, so worth exploring :) Just watch that it is properly balanced, not just a supplement for wild birds & expecting the birds to find the rest of their nutrition on their own, there's lots of lorikeet foods like that here in Australia, they're better than the bread & honey people used to use before them, but certainly not complete diets! I don't have an instagram account or really do the following thing, but I did just take a look at your pics, looks good :) I see you've figured out the smart toy thing :) Mine girl love her treat wheel too, that she has to spin to line up the holes with the sections to get treats out of. She actually just sits there emptying it, just cause she enjoys it, doesn't even eat the treats, just loves the game lol. My boy sits below her eating them all, he's too lazy to do the wheel himself lol That around eye baldness look yours has is what mine had too before I switched them foods. Girl has it again a bit right now, cause she's on eggs & exhausted/run down from that, but I know from past experiences, it will be gone within a few weeks of getting off the eggs. I don't think it's actual baldness, I think it's poor skin colour, which I think relates to nutrition, but it could also be a vitamin d/uv light thing, but my girl is still getting that while on eggs, so I dont think it is. Your set up there looks great with the window & natural light, since you're on this channel, I'm sure you know that uv doesn't travel though glass, so they need vitamin d in their diet if not going outside, just mentioning in case, but I would seriously see if you can get a good quality multi-vitamin & see if that makes a difference. Lorikeets are tough birds, it's likely to take years for nutritional issues to even start to show, but it could reduce life expectancy if diet's not great, which I'm sure you don't want, I mean that's obvious from your attitude & attempts to address & learn about, I wish I could give better advice, how frustrating that there's not any good formulas over there :( That probably contributes to the lack of lorikeet pets there too I guess, is crazy though, surely it's not that hard for someone to import some decent stuff, even if just for breeders & zoos!

[@joyrice1350]

@@mehere8038 Awesome! I have heard of the pellets but common sense told me it would be a poor idea, I’m glad you could confirm that for me though! I would love to get Eggsy (my lorikeet) a lori friend but honestly I don’t think that would be possible. As of right now im in my first year of college and I still live with my parents- eggsy already broke my bank as he was $2100. Even if I was financially able to get another lori I would have to travel either out of state or even out of country to legally and responsibly purchase another. I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for another. It’s unfortunate because since I am a full time college student I can’t give him my constant undivided attention and I can tell he’s frustrated by that. I’ve considered getting another bird of a different specie but there’s a few issues with that. Eggsy was at my work (a petstore) for about 2 months and he HATED other birds his size or smaller. He would even try to attack their cages. Only birds he got along with was a cockatoo and an African gray (so he only likes larger birds that are 3k+) :( Eggsy does love walks outside, he sits perched on my shoulder chatting with the outside birds. I’ve tried playing some videos for him and you’re right! He does scream extremely loudly back to the birds in the video. I do wonder though, are you sure that he is enjoying the video interaction? I sorta feel like I’m teasing him since he’s looking for where he can find the birds but he can never find them. Wow the vitamin information is very helpful, I’m sure I’ll find something on some app eventually. So I will keep looking. Maybe to your surprise, we don’t have any lorikeets in captivity here. None near me at least. None in zoos or rescues where I am. Before eggsy came to my store nobody I work with (including me) has seen or heard of a lorikeet, completely foreign to us. There’s also a bird fair here every month with exotic vets and when I brought him they asked what pellets he was on 🤦🏻‍♀️ I also work with two girls who volunteer at a bird rescue, they know a bit more about lorikeets but have never seen one come in. It kinda felt hopeless finding information on him until you replied to my comment. Even more so- it’ll be impossible to find him a friend until I have the means to travel and find one. I’ve never thought of feeding hummingbird diet, I’ll have to look into how nutritional that would be. I do have stores near me that sell nectar but like you said, idk if it’s just a supplement or a complete diet. Haha I’m glad you liked it! I don’t have a lot of bird toys available to me that could hold the wet fruits and veggies eggsy likes so I’m thinking of purchasing some dog puzzles as those can be easily washed. And yes, I will look into completing his diet using the advice you mentioned. It was really helpful. Hopefully I will see the patches around his eyes disappear soon…

[@joyrice1350]

@@mehere8038 I just found wombaroo on Etsy! 1.5kg for 69 US dollars. Ugh. Expensive but worth it. I’ll give it a go!

[@marshaknox9346]

I would love to know why her owner gave up such a sweetie...please.

[@mansishah6579]

Mili knows how to bath. She is not scared of the bath tub. The other birds in her flock take baths at least once a week (we offer every day). But Mili doesn’t like to take a bath. She only bathes once every few months… dirty bird.

[@irs5436]

My bird hates showering so we don’t shower her when she knows she stink she showers on her own

[@Serene3574]

Why is it so important to get birds to bathe? My dogs would stink without a bath, do birds?

[@SP-85]

Quite important for feather conditioning. Doesn't have to be running water.

[@mehere8038]

When my birds use a small bowl for bathing, the water is visibly brown once they've finished. I have no idea how they get as dirty as they do, but clearly when they're discolouring the water in that way & enjoying bathing once used to it, then it's important for them to bathe. Wild birds bathe in rivers & ponds & any other patches of shallow water they can find. Offering wild birds a bird bath is one of the most effective ways of attracting them to your garden, cause they LOVE it. They wouldn't love it like that if it wasn't important to them, especially not in winter & remember, wild birds get regular showers from the rain that pet birds dont' get too!

[@frstleo9582]

So your 250 dollar 'perches' are pointless?😂

[@donnaschuet8467]

SLOW,boring, store way over price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@CODY3DTECH]

All you do is put a tupperware of water in there cage or on top and they go in them selves my male and female swim together after a few days the male shows the female things are safe

[@robb1460]

Why not record a bird fully using the bath. Show a movie next to a free bath?