Trixie hamster wheel

[candice clews]

Hi. I need to upgrade the size of my Syrian hamsters wheel as she's outgrown it now. I'm thinking about buying the 28cm trixie wheel.
How well does this fit into the Hamster Heaven cage? - photos may be useful.

Also
Where is the best place to buy it from? (Not Amazon). I've seen it on Zooplus, and i'm not too bothered about the £4.99 postage but your not able to choose the colour, which puts me off a bit.

Thanks

[cypher]

Any 28cm wheel would be very difficult to fit in the Hamster Heaven, even a 9" wheel is hard to fit in & allows for very little substrate below, you would have to section off a part of the cage with very little substrate at all which would make it hard to maintain a good depth of substrate in the rest of the cage.
I think most people buy them from Zooplus, not sure where else sells them.

[candice clews]

Originally Posted by cypher

Any 28cm wheel would be very difficult to fit in the Hamster Heaven, even a 9" wheel is hard to fit in & allows for very little substrate below, you would have to section off a part of the cage with very little substrate at all which would make it hard to maintain a good depth of substrate in the rest of the cage.
I think most people buy them from Zooplus, not sure where else sells them.

Thanks for your comment. I do think she needs a bigger wheel really as currently she has the savic rolly which originally came with the Hamster Heaven cage. She's only about 3/4 months old and I've already noticed her back starting to arch slightly. The smaller sized 20cm Trixie wheel is only 1cm bigger than the one she has now so that wouldn't make much difference.
What would you recommend as an alternative?

[cypher]

She will be needing a bigger wheel but I think the cage is the problem really, I keep Chinese & Russians in mine but I don't think it's big enough for a Syrian who needs a larger wheel, house etc. have you thought about upgrading the cage.

[candice clews]

Originally Posted by cypher

She will be needing a bigger wheel but I think the cage is the problem really, I keep Chinese & Russians in mine but I don't think it's big enough for a Syrian who needs a larger wheel, house etc. have you thought about upgrading the cage.

The cage is 80x50x50cm so is the perfect size for a Syrian Hamster and I wouldn't be looking to upgrade it any time soon. It's just the wheel I was thinking of changing.

[mangoandmimi]

Potentially the wodent wheel off rodipet would work, think I've seen them in hamster heavens and they're 27cm. A 30cm one would be better for larger Syrians. But I agree with cypher the cage is just as big an issue as the wheel. As well as the lack of floor space for enough enrichment the height of the hamster heaven just isn't sufficient when you need a big enough wheel and deep enough bedding for Syrians. The hamster heaven height includes the pent house which isn't much use really. Syrians do best in cages of at least 100x50x50cm so I wouldn't rule out an upgrade.

[candice clews]

It wouldn't be possible financially for me to upgrade both of my hamsters cages unfortunately. I'm still only a student and buying the Hamster Heavens originally, a couple of years ago, was quite a stretch. One of them doesn't have the penthouse on them and I think this would provide the extra height required really. I usually don't have both of the shelves within the cage either as I find the green one in particular takes up quite a lot of room. It would take me a while to save up for new cages, so I think a bigger wheel is more my priority at this point. Thanks for the advice though. I do appreciate it.

[Pebbles82]

The Trixie wheel fits fine. It actually has one of the tallest stands of an 11" wheel so better than some re substrate in that area. I had an 11" wheel in that size cage for some time with out first Syrian. Because it's a lower height than some cages (which has its pros as less chance of fall risks) it means that when you have a syrian sized wheel in, your limited in substrate height in that area. I tried fencing the wheel area off and having different levels but found that segmented the cage too much and made the floor area seem smaller, so I just sloped the substrate away from the wheel so it was deeper in the rest of the cage.

What can work well in that cage - although it's a more expensive option as wodent wheels are hard to get hold of - is the 27cm wodent wheel hung upside down from the top bars. It is slightly smaller and more compact, while still being a 10" wheel. It is low to its stand, so when upside down you get more substrate area underneath it. They also spin much better upside down! But the only place to get it now really is from Rodipet and the postage is about £8 on top. On the plus side you can choose whatever colour you want and there is a lot of choice. Plus they sell all the spare parts if ever needed.

If I was getting a wheel for a hamster heaven I would get that one, because it doesn't dominate the cage too much. Unless you have a particularly large Syrian as it is only 7cm deep. Fine for most Syrians but our last one was enormous and needed a deeper wheel.

It is easy to fix. You just need 3 plastic cable ties. The stand slots through the top bars and you attach the wheel to the stand inside the cage (not difficult to do if you do it with the cage top removed and not that difficult even with the cage top in place). Then the cable ties attached to the top of the stand where it sits on the bars. I found less was better than more with cable ties. 2 or 3 made it very secure and still spinning well. More cable ties made the stand sit at a funny angle somehow.

I have some photos somewhere I'll dig out.

It probably wouldn't fit hung from the top if you have the Penthouse and external tubes, but the cage is much better without the penthouse and tubes, it's really best to remove those anyway and cap off the tubes. They do much better with a house inside the cage, open underneath and on top of the substrate, for burrowing down, burying hoards and hygiene. And shorter bigger tubes or tunnels are better as toys inside the cage.

Anyway this is the wodent wheel at rodipet. Petplanet sometimes used to sell the senior (11"/27cm) wodent wheel in pale blue and white but never seem to have it any more.

It costs about £19 converted from Euros but postage is another £8 approx. Lots of colours though.

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/exercise-wheels/wodent-wheel/

I took photos of the 27cm wodent wheel and the 28cm wood trixie wheel inside the cage (same base) without the bars to show the different. But they are just standing on top of the substrate in the photos. Also of the huge 12" wobust wheel which is very deep - and dominates the cage!

The trixie wheel would work fine stood on the very base of the cage, with lower substrate up to the bottom of the wheel part - but it will have to sit forward quite a bit because the cage base slopes. Which is why the wodent wheel leaves so much more space because it can sit further back when attached to the top bars.

The first two photos show the 28cm wood karlie wheel (same as trixie wheel) in the cage - about 9cm deep wheel. The second two show the 11"/27cm wodent wheel - about 7cm deep. The Trixie wheel is also 7cm deep. The last one shows the enormous wobust wheel in it - it was far too big for the cage - but you can see how the stand is attached on top.

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[Pebbles82]

And here is a photo showing all three next to each other for size reference. Despite being the smallest of the three wheels in proportions, the 27cm wodent wheel is a good size for a syrian hamster - unless you have a really huge syrian hamster.

The Trixie wheel is half the price of the Wodent wheel - however wodent wheels do tend to last for a very long time and are better made. Trixie wheels - hit and miss - some people have found they last well, some find they get very rattly and noisy as they get older, some find they break after not long. The wodent wheel isn't classed as silent but it's virtually silent. If it was me with that cage I'd go with the wodent wheel hung upside down - you'll have much more space in the cage and the wheel will be very safe and sturdy that way - no stand to get caught up in. But you'd be fine with the plastic trixie wheel as well.

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[candice clews]

Hi. Thank you so much for your reply. Very detailed! I like those cage set-ups a lot! I've been researching further into the wheels, and reading reviews etc, and I've chosen to go with the plastic Trixie one, being a bit cheaper. I have this on order from Zooplus, along with a few other toys. Very excited to receive it Thanks again!