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Old 08-25-2015, 02:23 PM   #1
Dancake
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Default Pertaining to the wheel.

While reading a hamster care book earlier this morning, I read that it is ill advised to keep the wheel inside of the tank for too long a time. The book stated that hamsters tend to overwork themselves when there is a wheel in their tank that never gets taken out, or when the hamster is left in the ball for too long.

I believe this is true, for I have owned a handful of hamsters prior to the baby I have now, and they were inseparable from their wheels. Does anyone have a comment?

Also, does anybody have advice? Such as, how long and when do you let your hamsters exercise? or how long and when do you have the wheel in the hamster's cage/tank?

Thank you.
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Old 08-27-2015, 11:03 AM   #2
Wanna Hamster
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Default Re: Pertaining to the wheel.

This information is only true with young Roborovskis Hamsters. This is not true with any other species. If your hamsters are not Roborovskis, do not use this information. Many books have outdated hamster care. Once Robos are a certain age though (I believe 8 weeks) they should have the wheel in their cage at all time. Could you tell us what species your hamsters are? If they are Robos, take their wheel out as soon as possible.
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Old 08-27-2015, 11:10 AM   #3
Shannonmcn
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Default Re: Pertaining to the wheel.

I have only ever heard of a wheel being bad for very young hamsters though unlike Wanna Hamster I didn't hear anything species specific. I have heard also that some breeders also don't give their hamsters a wheel until they are past showing age as it can affect their condition. A name or a reference for the book would be good as, yeah, there is a lot of outdated information out there.

Personally I've never had a hamster younger than 6 weeks so I've always had a wheel in the cage at all times. Getting "overworked" in the hamster ball is a very different issue since they can't stop comfortably, or have a rest or a drink. Generally the advice is to only use a ball if there are no other free roaming options and to offer regular breaks every 20-30 minutes. In some countries (Germany) using a ball at all is considered dangerous.
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Old 08-27-2015, 11:16 AM   #4
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Default Re: Pertaining to the wheel.

There have been various scientific research papers on wheels over the years. And these days it is thought that a wheel is essential for a hamster, from what I have read, and earlier notions of them doing it too much have been dismissed (I don't know about Roborovski's, am talking about Syrians and dwarf hamsters generally there).

They need it for the exercise. In the wild they can run up to 10 miles a night, and unless they have a large playpen or free roam in your room, the wheel is their only real exercise. I've found initially ours used it a lot, then went through phases where he didn't use it much. But it is their favourite thing and they need to know it is there. Without the exercise of wheel running daily they could get quite sick.

As with most things they can be good and bad at times. So if a hammy is very scared or stressed they might suddenly run a lot in their wheel (like running away!) but this is usually just a temporary thing.
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Old 08-27-2015, 12:19 PM   #5
virtualkeith
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Default Re: Pertaining to the wheel.

I could not imagine taking the wheel from my Syrian. That would end our relationship.
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Old 08-27-2015, 01:22 PM   #6
Pumpkin and Peanut
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Default Re: Pertaining to the wheel.

lol virtualkeith I feel the same about pumpkin's ball.
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Old 08-27-2015, 09:42 PM   #7
Nancy's Hamsters
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Default Re: Pertaining to the wheel.

All mine have WW in their bins and tanks and I surely don't take them out except for a cleaning, and my Hamsters are just fine. I have found young hamsters may slim down to a bit to little weight if all they have is a wheel and a few chewing toys, but I also found all needed to place the weight back on them was to up the protein levels and the amount of sunflower seeds and peanut halves, and they plumped right back to the proper weight.

My weaned pups would not be happy if they had to lose their WW sr wheels.
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