Silent Spinner for a long haired ham?

[Vanilla]

Hey there, I'm going to get a Syrian hamster, preferably a long haired one, and am picking out a wheel in preparation. I heard that long haired Syrians can get their skirts tangled up in the spindle, so I considered the Karlie Wonderland Wooden Wheel which doesn't have one. However, I heard about them chewing and cutting their paws on splinters , and by the time you get the paint and sealant to make it safer it's the same price as the Silent Spinner.
Since the wheel will be so big (12"/30cm), and the hamster will further away from the spindle than in a regular 8" wheel, will this eliminate the chance of getting their fur caught up? If not is there some way of preventing it, like covering the spindle with felt or something?
Thanks

[Nancy's Hamsters]

I take it your in the UK. The Silent Spinners have been horrible in the large sizes over there because the company got this crazy idea to redo the wheel's design.

Even big Syrians have been unable to move the wheel and sometimes with a lot of extra work you can get it to work. Most go for the Wobust wheel by Wodent Wheel though they seem hard to locate in the UK. I'd go for the Carlie wheel and just do the brief sanding and painting it with Plasti-coate and be confident the hamster will be thrilled with a nice big wheel and you will be thrilled with how quiet it is.

[GreySyrian]

Have you heard of flying saucer wheels ? My hamster (although not long-hair ...) loves hers and I don't see how the hamster could get tangle on one but I may be wrong. They do take up a bit of space but also have the advantage of being made from plastic as oppose to wood

(Google Image)

[flowerfairy]

I have the karlie wooden wheel (buy from zooplus its much cheaper there) for my syrian who is long haired (white and fluffy with red eyes awww) and he has no problems at all. It was perfectly smooth and I coated it in plasti-kote to make it easy to wipe over.

Even if you did get a rough one, a bit of sandpaper would easily sort it. Good luck. Oh, I find that they are nice and quiet as well.

The robobs have one and find it perfectly easy to turn even though it is millions of miles high to them!

[Pebbles82]

Agree with Nancy on the Silent Spinner - don't bother! I'd go for the Karlie wheel. Yes you do need to check it over for splinters - there have been some cases of that, and be armed ready with a piece of sanding paper and plastikote. The sanding took me 10 minutes. Plastikoting is quick and easy. A coat is dry in a couple of hours. You could do with two coats, so it'll be ready the day after. I just buy the small pot of water based enamel plastikote and paint it on with a half inch standard paintbrush. It'll work out about £15 - maybe a bit more with postage - for wheel and plastikote. Sand paper is pence. If you get it from Zooplus which is the cheapest place to get it. The Plastikote also helps seal it as well as waterproof it so also less chance of any splintery bits. We've had one - it's a great wheel, virtually silent and sturdy and no spindle to worry about. Ours broke (our hamster is big and thundered in it!) and while I was waiting for a replacement I got a Wobust Wodent wheel. Our hamster got attached to that so I kept the Karlie for a spare. My second Karlie was a bit rough round the edges so I had to sand and plastikote it. First time I ever bought sandpaper. Just buy a sheet of 100 grade (roughish) and a sheet of 240 grade (fine). The 240 is to finish it off nice and smooth. It literally took 10 minutes.

Anyway - here's the wheel thread information as well and the link to the Karlie wheel on Zooplus

The 29cm is currently £11.99 on there, but you probably need to pay postage as well

Wonderland Exercise Wheel: Great Small Pet Accessories at zooplus

Here's the wheel thread - I think plastikote details are on there too

Guide to suitable hamster Wheels

Other options are - the California Storm wheel - expensive as needs ordering from the US
And Karlie do a Cork lined wood wheel. The internal diameter is 28cm (slightly less than the plain wood one) due to the depth of the cork. So fine for an average Syrian but might not be quite big enough for a very large one. No splinter issues but I'd still plastikote it to help wateproof it. I actually ordered one of these and still had to do a couple of minutes sanding on the rim and back stand where it was a big rough, but maybe I was just being picky!

The picture shows the standard wheel, but this is the link for the cork wheel and there's a photo of it on the wheel thread

Karlie Flamingo 1030975 Wood Bogie Hamster Wheel Cork Diameter 28.5 cm: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

[Vanilla]

Thanks everyone for your advice - I got the Karlie wheel instead. It came today and it's huge! But also very light so easy to push.

[DrKMcK]

Hello Vanilla, and welcome to Hamster Central! Glad you've got the new wheel. Your hammy will be so happy. I hope to see a photo of your little fluff.