How do i keep albie warm and comfortable this winter ?

[Stitchthestitch]

I am interested in this solution. but I just looked at this heater on amazon UK, it's much more expensive than I was expecting/hoping. About £80-£100. But we do what you have to I suppose

I think part of the priciness is that it's an imported item as I couldn't find it on any of the major parrot supply sites I normally use . From what I could find ,it seems like amazon is the only place to get it .

 

[HeatherG]

A few thoughts: if you have a block or perch heater inside the cage, partly wrapping the cage in a flannel sheet helps keep the heat in. (Not so tightly around the heater to cause a problem but just tented around the cage.)

Sealing your windows with tape or cling film will help a lot.

If your power goes out or heat stops working, you can always put your bird in a small travel cage and keep it under the covers with you at night. Or hold the travel cage on your lap with a blanket or towel draped over cage and lap during the day.

 

[T00tsyd]

My thought process was just how much power will I use otherwise? I decided it would probably pay for itself while giving Syd a source of warmth really close by.

 

[Stitchthestitch]

My thought process was just how much power will I use otherwise? I decided it would probably pay for itself while giving Syd a source of warmth really close by.

I just really really hope albie likes it ! Or wlse thays £90 down the drain 😆 i mean, he should do because he loves my hot water bottle when it come out ,so in theory ,he should like this ...right ? Right ?

Hes worth every penny regardless and i would have happily spent more if needed .

We are just debating about which cage we should put it in . His day cage in the living room or his sleep cage in our bedroom. Hubby votes sleep , i say living room. What do you guys think ?

 

[T00tsyd]

I just really really hope albie likes it ! Or wlse thays £90 down the drain 😆 i mean, he should do because he loves my hot water bottle when it come out ,so in theory ,he should like this ...right ? Right ?

Hes worth every penny regardless and i would have happily spent more if needed .

We are just debating about which cage we should put it in . His day cage in the living room or his sleep cage in our bedroom. Hubby votes sleep , i say living room. What do you guys think ?

LOL I was thinking the same and imagined myself moving it each day. My original thought was for his sleep cage because it gets colder at night. During the day I have to keep myself warm enough so it will be essential for both of us since I am retired. I guess I'll wait and see his reaction to it and go from there. I guess we could bite the bullet and buy two!

 

[Stitchthestitch]

LOL I was thinking the same and imagined myself moving it each day. My original thought was for his sleep cage because it gets colder at night. During the day I have to keep myself warm enough so it will be essential for both of us since I am retired. I guess I'll wait and see his reaction to it and go from there. I guess we could bite the bullet and buy two!

Hahahh thats true .

I do like to think his sleep cage is pretty snug as its wrapped up with blankets and ive a load of hot water bottles that i could fill and put at the bottom in the seed tray, heat rises after all and ill be makimg myself hot water bottles any way .

We shall see. I guess it depends on how movable it is

 

[T00tsyd]

Hahahh thats true .

I do like to think his sleep cage is pretty snug as its wrapped up with blankets and ive a load of hot water bottles that i could fill and put at the bottom in the seed tray, heat rises after all and ill be makimg myself hot water bottles any way .

We shall see. I guess it depends on how movable it is

Hot water bottles? Hadn't thought of that.

 

[T00tsyd]

Well as an update to this my Snuggle up arrived. A huge box that weighed as if nothing was in there, rattled gently as I carried it in. Syd eyed it with some suspicion and came over to take a closer look. He was fine while I struggled to undo the box. I guess that's a regular experience and he was interested as I managed to get the contraption out of it's rigid transparent holder until I finally held it up to unthread the cable through a hole in the packaging.

With a squawk representing a mixture of fear and fury he fled to the highest furthest point he could manage. I can only guess that his perception told him that at the very least this was a deadly black long snake. I checked the plug and ordered what I hope is the right adaptor while it lay threateningly on the side. 2 hours later he has returned to my shoulder sitting on the farthest part of me from the offending 'creature' comfortably grinding his beak.

We have a couple of days before the adaptor arrives and hopefully his acceptance of the new 'animal' will have been achieved. I fear that should I put a hand out and try to lift it up again panic will once again ensue. Oh dear! Life is tough Syd, isn't it? 🥰

 

[Stitchthestitch]

Well as an update to this my Snuggle up arrived. A huge box that weighed as if nothing was in there, rattled gently as I carried it in. Syd eyed it with some suspicion and came over to take a closer look. He was fine while I struggled to undo the box. I guess that's a regular experience and he was interested as I managed to get the contraption out of it's rigid transparent holder until I finally held it up to unthread the cable through a hole in the packaging.

With a squawk representing a mixture of fear and fury he fled to the highest furthest point he could manage. I can only guess that his perception told him that at the very least this was a deadly black long snake. I checked the plug and ordered what I hope is the right adaptor while it lay threateningly on the side. 2 hours later he has returned to my shoulder sitting on the farthest part of me from the offending 'creature' comfortably grinding his beak.

We have a couple of days before the adaptor arrives and hopefully his acceptance of the new 'animal' will have been achieved. I fear that should I put a hand out and try to lift it up again panic will once again ensue. Oh dear! Life is tough Syd, isn't it? 🥰

I love your writing style !

Ours should arrive next week or so (lets hope my neighbors dog doesnt eat this package this time 🙄 he ate my socks and shoe package yesterday) while i am away so ill have to update when we get back .

 

[T00tsyd]

I have been waiting for an adaptor to arrive and yesterday it did. I plugged it in to see how hot the snuggleup would be and was impressed. Syd was watching intently as I held it to my cheek making appreciative noises but declined the chance to come near. He no longer shies away so I guess that's a step forward. So here is my dilemma- it says on the instructions to put it by his favourite perch.
He sleeps in the spare room, covered, in a smaller cage. I have no idea which is his favourite perch in there! I've asked him but he's not letting on! Today I need to rearrange his perches to be able to put the heat pad near a perch at all. So I am inclined to put it in his much larger day cage today where I do know his favourite, so that I can observe his reactions to it in the hope that when it appears in his sleep cage he will understand the point of it.
He of course is oblivious to all this - he's such a lucky chap! Wish me luck!

 

[Stitchthestitch]

Our one has just arrived , so now i need to go and find an adapter plug for it!

 

[T00tsyd]

Our one has just arrived , so now i need to go and find an adapter plug for it!

My plan came unstuck, The cable is too thick to thread through Syd's day cage bars. I'm not strong enough to make the bars bend enough to be able to get it through. The sleep cage has a smaller gauge of wire so although the bars are just as narrow they are slightly softer.

Since I am retired I have to keep warm during the day so heating serves us both but it's during the night when the temps drop in the early hours that I am more concerned.

So plan B has been to bring his sleep cage next to his day cage. He has watched me fit it and rearrange his top perches to accommodate it and in a minute I shall put him in it while I pop outside for a few minutes and hopefully he won't be fazed and will re-orientate himself to where his perches have moved. I shall turn the heater on and see what happens.
Happy days but hopefully even happier nights.

 

[LeeC]

I made my own heater a few years ago, when I had a special-needs parrot. I adopted Peaches, who turned out to be a male—and completely blind. The blindness explained why he slept on the floor-grate of his cage, with his beak pressed tight into the corner. He could not hold still, like Stevie Wonder. My avian vet said it is normal for blind-since-birth parrots to constantly "waver" because they do not get the visual feedback to tell them they are moving around.

So, Peaches sleeps on the floor-grate, in the corner, to hold himself still. Parrots are amazing. I wanted him to be warm because he was also diagnosed with severe heart disease at his initial wellness exam. My avian vet suspected it before the blood labs came back. She is sharp. She noticed that Peaches was always fluffed, never "streamlined", and said that is usually a sign of a parrot with very poor circulation needing to keep warm. Blood labs confirmed it a week later.

So, I bought a reptile heater pad.

...and some slate tiles...

I stuck the heater pad to the underside of a tile, then I put the tile under the cage grate in the corner where Peaches slept. The warm tile was about 3/4" (19mm) below the stainless-steel grate. The cord was completely out of his reach.

He must have wondered about the magic warmth of that particular corner. :] I thought he might linger there outside of sleeping hours, due to the warmth, but he did not.

 

[Stitchthestitch]

My plan came unstuck, The cable is too thick to thread through Syd's day cage bars. I'm not strong enough to make the bars bend enough to be able to get it through. The sleep cage has a smaller gauge of wire so although the bars are just as narrow they are slightly softer.

Since I am retired I have to keep warm during the day so heating serves us both but it's during the night when the temps drop in the early hours that I am more concerned.

So plan B has been to bring his sleep cage next to his day cage. He has watched me fit it and rearrange his top perches to accommodate it and in a minute I shall put him in it while I pop outside for a few minutes and hopefully he won't be fazed and will re-orientate himself to where his perches have moved. I shall turn the heater on and see what happens.
Happy days but hopefully even happier nights.

Albie is already touching his on command, although its his " scared but i trust you so ill touch it " tap but thats something at least . I ended up spending 5 and a half hours in the hair salon so i didnt get chance to look for an adapter plug . Im going to go to currys (electronics store ) and see if they have anything .

 

[Stitchthestitch]

Update on the heater now its plugged in ....

Albie loves it ! Now he realised its warm, Hes snuggled up to it , tapping it and just told it he loves it

Thats the best £80 ive spent on him!

 

[Stitchthestitch]

He hasnt budged !

 

[T00tsyd]

Update on the heater now its plugged in ....

Albie loves it ! Now he realised its warm, Hes snuggled up to it , tapping it and just told it he loves it

Thats the best £80 ive spent on him!

LOL Syd is playing his cards very close to his chest the little rotter. I see him looking at it when I put him in his cage but he doesn't roost until the covers go over so whatever he does is in secret. I guess I need to invest in a night-time camera! Come to think of it I wonder if my daughter would lend me her baby monitor?

 

[Stitchthestitch]

LOL Syd is playing his cards very close to his chest the little rotter. I see him looking at it when I put him in his cage but he doesn't roost until the covers go over so whatever he does is in secret. I guess I need to invest in a night-time camera! Come to think of it I wonder if my daughter would lend me her baby monitor?

Syd is hilarious!

To be fair , i did leave it in his cage for 2 weeks with put the power cord (i accidentally forgot it when delivering him to my mils ) so he had a good while to gey used to it and then when he realised it was giving off heat today ,it became the best thing ever

 

[wrench13]

Yeah those heaters are great, Salty is always next to it when I uncover him in the AM. WHen ti really starts to get cold, like ice and snow cold out there, I also have a sheet type reptile heater, as shown above, that gets turned on. Its under the grating in his cage and under the papers. Since he gets covered at night, between that and the snuggle heater, he is plenty warm. The only thing to watch for is if they start to nibble on the power cords. The Snuggle up comes with a pretty good cord cover, which Salty took a couple of pokes at and has since ignored.

 

[T00tsyd]

I have just bought one of these and it has just arrived. It is currently sitting where Syd can see it and investigate if/when the mood takes him. It is plugged in so I can see how warm it gets. The Snuggleup is still in his sleep cage but this one will go in the day cage where I can see his response. At a third of the price of the other one although Chinese made, I am hoping for useful results.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BFQVXVVH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1