Lisa Shea Forums Parakeets General Parakeet Chat heated perches

Does anyone have experience with heated perches? I bought one and then sent it back cause I was scared to use it. But when I get the birds to perch on my fingers, I notice their little feet are very cool to the touch. I have my heat set at 70 and I have a 60 watt red-heat lamp on their cage while I'm home. It doesn't seem to give off much heat though. Am thinking about switching to 100 watt.

Advice? about both the perch and using 100 watts?

thanks
bluemom

IDK about the heated perches..I was wondering about those myself I have a pole lamp next to Levi's cage that I put on toward cage when I think it's chilly or after bath. I just have a regular 60 watt in it and it seems to give off quite a bit of warmth actually. Are regular bulbs bad??

Heated perches are fine. They're warm to the touch, not hot. Sol & Vi seem to be happy with their's.

Regular bulbs should be fine.

BTW--I noticed alot of people keep their homes kind of warm. We keep our thermostat at 62 degrees during the daytime. I don't know what's good for the keets but I do know that energy costs are high and conservation is important.

You keep it at 62 and your keets are fine with it? I've been keepin ours at 70 because of my keet (first winter). And yes energy cost is very high and we heat with fuel oil and that is way up there also. Trying to figure out ways to keep 'em warm while conserving energy is quite the dilemma lols

Yes, they are, but they have a heated perch too. And, at night, they're covered. To keep energy costs low while providing heat for the keets, provide a lamp or a heated perch or something that will keep them warm. But I would not heat up the whole house or even a large room for them. That is too inefficient from an energy standpoint--a more localized solution is in order.

I realize that you live in upstate NY, the Adirondacks(?), so you live in a colder region than I do, which is around NYC.

thank you for the perch info. I've been nervous about all these heat devices. I bought a ceramic space heater and today after it was on for about 1/2 hour, my birds, which had been very playful, suddenly stopped all activity. It was late, but I got the feeling that they were unable to breathe normally. I stopped the heater and started blowing air at them. Ugh. I can't stand it. I'm going to re-buy that perch and see if that helps. I hate keeping the house at 70. It's wasteful and uncomfortable for my husband and me.

I'm glad that you're going back to the heated perches. I also hope you stopped blowing air at them. Drafts are not good.

i don't mean i turned a fan on them; i simply started breathing on them like a mouth to mouth except I was 5 inches away. At worst, they got a dose of post-dinner garlic breath;)

I've never had one, but I've heard that they can malfunction and burn the keet's feet. I guess if your there most of the time and watching them they should be alright if you reorder it.

Anything's possible. I can only talk from personal experience. I have had mine for over three years and it still works. If the perches do overheat, I doubt a keet would stay on them for long. I check perch about every other day, not for fear of overheating, but for fear that it isn't providing warmth. So far, so good.