Water heating

Question
My betta's (Howard) water has gotten cold since the temp has changed in our apartment (fall is kicking in but we cant turn the heat on yet). I noticed that he was just sitting at the bottom of his bowl and not eating. I searched around the net (mainly this website) and saw that other people had the same problem when their water went below the 70's. I have had him sitting under my desk lamp (60 watt) (in my room, which is warmed than the room he was previously in) for the past 2 days/3nights. He moves a little bit more, but shows no interest in eating (he had just one pellet yesterday, nothing today). He's in a pitcher that doesn't even equal one gallon, so i can't get a heater. And I dont have the money for a new tank. Is there a way I warm up his water without a heater and get him eating again?

Answer
Hi Aislin;

If you can get a cardboard box big enough to hold the pitcher and the lamp you can make a sort of "heated little room". Turn the box on it's side so you can still see him and cover it with a blanket or towels to insulate. Just be VERY careful you aren't creating a fire danger by the lamp being too close to anything flammable. Hopefully it will be warmer in there for him until your house temperature can get higher.

Hope he feels better soon.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins