safe source of heat

I'm wondering what peoples opinions are for the safest way for me to keep Pickle my not-so-feathered-fid warm in winter?

He's practically bald now, and in a way its a good thing because not being covered in deformed pin feathers all the time seems to be a lot less irritating for him. However he is clearly feeling the cold now that winter has finally decided to start where I live.

So our house does have ducted heating running through vents in the roof of each room, and when I am home i usually make sure the house it at least 18 degrees (c). but we have such a large and open plan house that we cant afford just leaving it on all the time, and I am often out on weekdays, meaning its all up to whatever my family sets it to.

I have been considering getting him a heat lamp, but whenever i have moved our turtle one and clipped it over his cage he comes and hangs off of the bars right next to it and i'm worried that he would spend hours there, or that over periods of time and unsupervised he would burn his feet as the cage bars heat up

I don't actually know anywhere where i could buy a heated perch without spending crazy postage to Australia? but i am considering trying, except they seem to have quite a bad reputation. - pickle isn't very destructive though

He absolutely refuses to wear any types of birdy jumpers, and I seriously doubt he would use a snuggie hut thing because he hates it when anyone or anything touches him (mostly his wings) without warning


Does anyone have any opinions/other small scale solutions they use to keep their fids warm in winter?

If you can purchase this item from a hardware store....



Use a 60w light bulb and wrap the cage with blanket and leave the front open. Or even a hanging pendant that's like it right above the cage, that will help with the heat source.

Hmm, I don't know about the crazy postage but my eclectus and conures have heated perches and we love them. They've never chewed the cords, which are wrapped in like.. a spring? You could always put PVC around the cord, too, to protect it more if you were worried.

At first the birds were all scared of them, so I wrapped them in vetwrap and then they were fine with them. After a while they peeled the vetwrap off. They're on them all the time when it is chilly.

What about an actual heater, like an oil filled electric one? We have two of those. I live in WI and in an older house so there are sometimes cold spots in the house. I use one of these during cold snaps. They make a nice bubble of warmth around them but don't get too hot that they can't be touched.