I been recently looking for a new silent wheel for Sherbet since I noticed her becoming annoyed with the front panel of the Trixie wheel, she keeping catching her hip on the holes which led her to chew the front panel and she started to run with her head slightly turned towards the front, so I was looking to get her a new wheel which didn’t have a front panel, which was affordable, silent and a suitable size for a Syrian which would fit inside a ferplast Mary cage. Since looking around I really like the Carolina Storm bucket wheel but its cost for shipping (as well as the cost from the UK distributor) was more expensive than the price I was willing to pay. After doing some looking around on the internet I came across 2 website which had tutorials for DIY bucket wheel, so I decided to make Sherbet her brand new wheel.
After buying all the materials the wheel cost me around £10 to £15 (compared to £35+ to buy a bucket wheel), and the wheel was fairly easy to make roughly taking me 2 hours, but what took the longest was waiting for scooter wheel and ball bearing to come and trying to find a suitable size and length bolt. Although the most difficult part of the construction process was cutting the bucket to size and drilling a hole in the exact centre (the hole is slightly off but I doesn’t really affect the wheel itself).
The diameter of the bucket wheel is 10.5 inch (27 cm aprox) and has a 4 inch (10cm) running track. Once I completed the wheel I wanted to get Sherbet approval and she loves her new wheel, she had her evening playtime and she was running in it for around 20 to 30minutes, she did keep stopping and kept going in and out of the wheel so she wasn’t running for whole time. But I was pretty impressed considering she is 1 year and 10/11months old - it’s an early birthday present – she is still fairly active for her age. At first I thought she may struggle to push the wheel around as the wheel has no grips on the running surface but she did prove me wrong she was running in it with no problem at all. Also its is totally silent all you hear is the pitter patter of her footsteps which to me is the most relaxing sound.
I recommend making a DIY bucket wheel if you are looking into getting a new wheel for your hamster on a budget, although this wheel may be more suitable for smaller Syrians, depending on the size of bucket you use.
Here are a few photos of the wheel itself at different angles (the picture of the back of the wheel I didn’t realise Sherbet was in the picture at first) and also a few photos of Sherbet enjoying her DIY bucket wheel.
Photos of my DIY Bucket Wheel