when should I take her wheel away if she is pregnant

[Matty Day]

what would you say the best time to take my wheel away from a pregnant female would be?
as she is a wheel addict I would like to deprive her of her wheel at the last moment possible.

just a note it takes 21 days with Chinese. As I know that may people on this forum are Syrian breeders

[souffle]

We would leave the wheel in till the final clean 2 days before the pups are due. Many breeders do not remove wheels but I have seen too many pups trapped under/behind wheels and mums abandoning their babies, on forums, to run to risk it.

[Bunsey]

i was wondering about this the other day and i was thinking well if you leave it til pups are born then you're disturbing the nest, but if you do it before hand, doesn't she go mental?

Are the pups ever born early? I mean what if you lifted her out to clean the cage and she started to have the pups! Or would it upset her cleaning the cage if she's made a nice nest and stuff? could you clean 3 days before instead, or does it make no difference?

i'm really nervous about having my first litter! last time they just got on with it without even telling me! :lol:

[souffle]

Usually by the time the pups are due they have rather lost interest in the wheel Bunsey and are busy either nesting and storing or trying to escape to have babies elsewhere (wardrope, drawer anywhere but thye comfy cage) I would stick to my guns on this and be determined that it is for the pups benefit and take it out despite any seeming protests. Especially a wodent wheel as they may decide to give birth in there and that would not be ideal :shock: Some people do leave them in but that would not be our choice. The do not tend to arrive days early and a two or three day time slot it plenty. If they arrived earlier there is likely to be a problem anyway and would not be developed enough to survive. a large litter may show up 12hrs or so early though.
This all applies to syrians where as with dwarfs sometimes you have no idea when pups are due as they often live in pairs or groups.

[Matty Day]

when would the earleist and safest opurtunity to return the wheel be, as she does enjoy her wheel of course I would put somthing like three or four wheels in for her and the pups

[Holly]

I remember taking Caramel's away with the final cage clean - 3 days before the babies were due - and she went ballistic so I put it back. I removed it the next night, by which time she seemed to be so busy preparing for the birth (building and moving nests constantly) that she didn't seem to miss it at all then.

[babyboos]

The wheel should come out a few days before to allow her to reserve her energy for the birth and rearing ahead of her, and not go back in until the wee ones are getting ready to come out of her cage which can easily be a month in total. The wee ones will love a wheel but remember though they have lots of energy to burn off they too need to store a lot of energy to grow big and strong with healthy bones, and also avoid potential injury falling off etc. Baby chinese are gorgeous I can't wait to see them when their eyes are all open.