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First off I want to say that this is a great site with many wonderful ideas and helps. Thank you all for sharing your wealth of information.
We use wood heat in the winter and sometimes when we first get up the fire's gone out in the night and it's very cold. We have a parakeet and I don't want him to suffer or come to any harm in the cold. I want to build a heated house for him to use as he wishes, but I worry about getting the PM too close to the heat source (100w light bulb). I plan to use black engine paint on the inside of the bulb section and hope this will help. This section must be completely enclosed so he'll have his required darkness. I don't want to set his house on fire...or mine. So how far away from the bulb should the PM be?
Thanks y'all 
See ya,
Shea
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If my parakeets were any indication, yours will probably chew the papier mache right out of existence.
I can't exactly explain why, but I am uncomfortable with your idea. When the weather is quite cold, I use a red heat lamp in my chickens' pen. A regular red incandescant bulb may work well for your parakeet. With the red light, my chickens act like they do normally at night. With the white light, they seem confused and stay up later, and are easily disturbed. I don't know the scientific explanation for this, if there is one.
Why not try a red light in the cage, with a fabric cover over it? You could put a thermometer in the cage, and keep an eye on it to see that it is in a comfortable range for the bird, neither too high or too low. You might start with a 25-watt bulb and go from there. I am certain that 75- or 100-watt bulbs would be too hot.
Sue
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Sorry for the confusion, CatPerson. I get my tongue tied around my eye teeth and can't see what I'm saying sometimes. I shouldn't have called it a "heated house". I just want to build a heater to place "beside" the cage to give him radiant heat. I would be more afraid of him chewing on the electric wire if it were inside the cage.
Last winter I used a lamp with a 100w bulb in a large cardboard box with foil covering the open side. It sat against the outside with the foil facing the cage and a cover over it all (the inside of the box was also lined with foil). It worked very well (even on the morning we woke to 16degrees inside) but it looked worse than tacky.
That sort of cold is why I use the 100w, his cage was nice and toasty while the rest of us were freezing. Once during a power outage I put a candle inside the box, it didn't give as much heat, but he was able to sit near it (safely) and stay warm until the power returned. We didn't leave him alone and kept a close watch while the candle was being use, just so you know
I just want something that looks nice but still does a good job of keeping his area warm. The end of the cage it will be on is 16"w x 30'h, so I can make it whatever size is needed to be safe with the heat. I will probably line the PM with foil as well just as an added safety measure.
I was just hoping one of you might have made this type of heater before or at least heard of one and know the safe distance factor.
Well did that make more sense this time or is the crazy lady even crazier than you thought? lol
See ya,
Shea
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Have you thought about contacting a supplier of vivariums (reptile housing) they sell specifically designed heaters that give the right kind of ambient heat with out danger of either fire or burning of the animal. They would be able to advise you on what is available and how best to build it into something more attractive as a covering.
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Newmodeller, that is a really brilliant idea! One of those "iguana rocks" or whatever they're called might be able to be put in the bottom of the cage, with the cord outside the cage. Heat rises.
But I'd still check the cage temp with a thermometer, just to be safe.
Sheawolf, somehow I had the idea that you were making a PM "nest" sort of thing for the bird to be in, with a heat source. Some people say I have too much imagination.....
Sue
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