Grey Bathing Beauty

African Greys...My understanding is that most Greys don't like to bath all that much. That is certainly the case with mine. Or at least not bathe unless it's on his terms...
I have a small-sized ceramic (dog) water dish, which I fill with room temperature water (have tried warmer and colder also). I have tried more/less amount of water in the "bathtub."

Some days he seems happy to play in it, throwing all of his possessions in the bathtub and then the next time he will avoid it at all cost. You can't entice him near it. (I know--that's a Grey!!)
But he never gets very wet in this process...either way.
I have tried misting...same thing, different water temps and making a game of it...spraying the dog, the parakeet and even myself...nothing works with spraying...Mel doesn't like that much at all. And tries to attack the bottle viciously.

I have been trying these different things now for 2 years with no good results.

I worry that he isn't getting bathed enough or something and I don't want him to be unhealthy...but what really bothers me is that he WILL bath in his own drinking water (ewwwww!) He does this quite often...at least once ot twice a week...and I have seen him do this right after trying to get him in the tub or accept a spray!?
He gets himself SOAKED this way...but ewwwwww.
The water is disgusting when he finishes.

So when I come homw from work, his water is yucky and I wonder if he's gone all day without water or if he tried to DRINK this stuff?

Any ideas? I wonder...maybe he never got baths before and has just done this all of his life? Maybe I can never break him of it??
Or do other Greys act like this, too?
Thanks

Soup bathes! Most birds do this, you can try having two water dishes that might help with the clean water issue, but he will probably drink out of either one whether dirty or not. Or you can try a water dish and a water bottle. I he is bathing himself during the week than he is bathing enough so don't worry about that as an issue.

Okay. So there isn't a huge concern about him ingesting filthy water..That's good to know and I will try a water bottle and see if he's willing to try that.
Thanks, Kimba...

I have a Timneh that I take outside when I water the flowers and he goes nuts until I spray him with the water hose. He loves it.

My oldest CAG is 13, he is exactly like yours. He's been bathing in is drinking water his whole life and I'm sure he drinks from it after. It doesnt appear to have had any ill effects on him. He has never been sick a day in his life. I still try to mist him once in awhile but he always just walks away. My baby CAG (5 months old) doesn't like to be misted either but has yet to bath in his water dish.

My CAG Doorknob agrees, he also likes to bathe in his water dish and doesn't care for anything else.

Our Simon concures on this one, bath and drink water are the same dish. We tryed a diffrent , larger and smaller dish, diffrent temps and she will only bath when she is ready. I have snuck in extra water while she bathes but if im not sneaky enough, she will stop the process all together.
We try and change her water as much as possible during the day, Simon dips almost everything she eats before she eats it. Its like she needs to wash her food first, regardless of what it is, its usually dunked in the water dish first, leaving the dish a real mess afterwards.

~Chas

We have not yet had a problem with the bathing. We put him in the sink with little pressure and he loves it. Here is a pic. Have you tried this? I am not an exspert beleive me we are still learning ourselfs so this was just a suggestion..Plus it gives time between the kids and pongo. So he can learn to trust them too.And them to trust him..

Hehehe...all pongo needs is a shower cap!

Kimba Somedays we need a rain coat..lol
He loves his baths in the sink. As soon as he hears the water running he starts chirping loud..