FINCHforum

I have a large "sunroom". It has glass walls and I keep it filled with tropical and subtropical plants most of the year. So it's lush, green, and has high humidity. I keep it around 60'F in the depth of winter because it's expensive to heat - on the absolute coldest nights, it might go down to 50'F in there. Can Gouldian Finches adjust to this kind of temperature if there are no drafts? I already have Ringneck Dove and Green Singers in there but I assume they will be fine with the cool temps since they've been in since summer so the temps will go down gradually as we head into Fall.

I think they should probably be fine. Gouldians can be more sensitive to the cold though.

One thing you may want to try is to provide a perch that has a heat lamp abouit 12" above it in one area, so if they do get cold they can fly over and sit under it to warm up.

I love using heat lamps. I think you can let a room get a lot cooler than you would otherwise. As long as the birds have room to get away from the heat if it gets to be too warm, they will regulate themselves.

Thanks for the advice on the heat lamp. I bought two Gouldians last weekend and put them in a large cage in my sunroom. They were fine until we had a cool night - the next morning it was 60'F in there, even with the windows closed. They looked cold the next morning and one was ruffled up.

So I bought one of those ceramic lamps and put it over the highest perch in the cage - and they took to it immediately - now they sleep in that spot and hang out there when not flying around. I guess Gouldians like heat when they can get it. I also put a portable radiator next to the cage so the immediate area stays in the 70s, even at night - at least for another week or so, since the female looked ruffled up. Today, with the extra heat, she was active again - but still goes back to the warm spot when she rests.