All three of our hamsters have Wodent Wheels which they've had for the past 3 weeks or so; they all seemed really taken with them at first (their Rotastak wheels became obviously too small as they grew) and seemed to be on them an awful lot which I took to be normal as they'd got a new toy to play with.
Now I'm a bit worried about Custard, my son's Red-Eyed Cream who is about 4 months old. The other two have settled down and use their wheels moderately but Custard seems to spend just about all of his waking hours on his wheel.
He generally wakes between 2 and 3pm and goes straight on the wheel. He'll have a break when he comes out of the cage to play but as soon as we put him back he goes straight on it again and remains on it for the rest of the evening and into the night from what I've seen. He'll come off a few times for a few minutes - occasionally he just sort of lies next to the wheel as if he's really, really tired.
Why does he do this? He's got an interesting and large cage with lots of levels, tubes and bars to climb and he gets out every day for playtime and time in his ball - so it can't be boredon - can it?
Should I be removing the wheel part of the time? I've read stuff where it says it's cruel to take away a hammy's wheel at all and also stuff that says you should limit the persistent wheel runner's time with the wheel in the cage - so I don't know what to do
Any advice much appreciated (I seem to always be asking for advice - perhaps one day I'll know enough to be able to offer some!)
Wheels - how much is too much???
...he comes out every morning and is as lively as the other two are in the evenings now 
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