Humidifying through the winter...

[cfulhage]

I'm looking to purchase a humidifier for this winter, and I have a few questions. It seems that there are so many things in the way of appliances that could harm Ollie, that now I am extremely cautious. Is there anything I need to look for when buying a humidifier? Any dangerous/toxic components that some may contain?

Also, should I get one with a filter, or filter free? Are the "cool mist" styles okay? Anybody have a really good brand/model of humidifier they recommend?

[The Outlaw]

You can add humidity lots of ways. You can put a bunch of live plants in your home/room and set them in trays with pebbles, in their pots and just add water to the trays. The plants will suck up the water and you'll get the benefits of the humidity and plants.

You can actually purchase a vaporizer. I assume you are living in your dorm. Most hold about a gallon of water. Since you are re-filling them daily, the mold problems associated with many larger units is not a problem.

You can sit containers with water in front of the heat source. If you have radiators, you can place bottles on the units.

You can keep a crock pot filled with water and running. It will evaporate water and if you add some lemon peels and cinammon sticks, it will smell nice too. Make sure to keep a screen (you could use a small cookie cooling rack) on top of the crock pot. Birds have been known to drown in open pots.

You can even make a table top fountain using a simple circulating pump purchased in any fish supply store. You can use a ceramic container, some pretty rocks and a piece of bamboo to form a little fountain. The nice thing about that is the lovely sound it makes, too. There are tons of tabletop fountain ideas all over the net.

[grandma]

Glad I don't have to worry about that!

[Graehstone]

Or .... you could just leave your doors and windows open when it snows and the humidity will come right into your home in the form of those miniature doilies that fall from the sky.


I'd go for the plant solution, but then I'm kind of partial, lol.

[Alyce Johnson]

Has anyone ever tried the "cool mist" type? I'm thinking of those little devices that make "fog" and go in a tabletop fountain. Also, sometimes you see them used for orchids, for example. It's basically a very, very fine mist. Truly looks like fog. Anybody know if the machines that create that effect are OK for birds?

[cfulhage]

I have a few plants indoors- a spider plant, some sort of vine thing, a rather large palm tree thing, a wax plant thing, and an aloe vera plant (I'm very plant saavy, if you can't tell ). However, we have hardly any windows in our apartment, except for the one we can put the spider plant and the palm tree by, so the other 3 are slowly but surely perishing. Its now too cold to put them outside- it froze overnight last night.

Does anybody know if setting plants close to Ollie's FS light would do them any good??

I'm going to try setting water in front of the space heater. That sounds like a nice, cheap, college-student type way to add some humidity to the air. Now I just have to go get a humidity gauge to see how well it works.

Thanks for the ideas Nancy!

[Valo's Moirana]

Plants are always a good idea... however, you got to make sure they are not toxic to the birds, since trying to keep them away from it is a pain (I'm looking into "re-homing" a lot of my plants because of that reason )

I keep the humidity up in my apartment by two ways: I have fish tanks (great humidifyers, but way too much work for what you're looking for ). I also just take a towel that I soak in water every day and just hang on a chair. With the dryness in Colorado, I have to get it wet every day but it's become just part of the morning routine now (cofffee, food for fid and fish, shower, clean cage and wet towel, out of the house).

[cfulhage]

A wet towel is another good idea. Thankfully Ollie isn't interested in the plants in the least, and besides- she is only out of her cage when I'm with her to keep an eye on her.

[Valo's Moirana]

Originally Posted by cfulhage

A wet towel is another good idea.

a great student solution perfect for me as well since it's a money saver

Originally Posted by cfulhage

Thankfully Ollie isn't interested in the plants in the least, and besides- she is only out of her cage when I'm with her to keep an eye on her.

yeah, i thought so too... until valo started a race for them once when i was having him on my shoulder while hanging up laundry which is close to the plants. before i could really react he had already ripped a leaf - go figure he wasn't that excited about mommy's fingers in his beak, and the rush to the bathroom where he got a good beak wash.

[svolk]

I think I'm going to try the wet towel as well. We have fish tanks but it is still rather dry in parts of the house.