What's the best wheel for dwarf hammies?

[Bingo]

I'm looking at silent spinners and flying saucers what size do you reccomend and are there any others I should be looking at?

Thank you

[Jeir]

I've tried four wheels with my dwarfs.

Savic Rolly: (8"/20cm, came with Hamster Heaven Metro)
Pros -
- Size good for dwarfs.
- Lightweight.
Cons -
- Squeaky.
- Falls off stand easily (needs to be realigned every day).

Silent Spinners: (6.5"/16cm)
Pros -
- Nice colours.
- Easy to attach to the top bars of the cage (ZZ1).
- Easy to clean.
Cons -
- Not as silent as advertised (low whirring, loud clicking with small claws on hard plastic).
- Rather heavy and hard to move even for a very large/chubby dwarf (75g at the time - might be due to the next con, though).
- Lately they've been having a lot of issues with being stiff and impossible to move. I was lucky in that I could get them to move with some veg oil and realigning stuff.
- Expensive.
- Limited sizes. A dwarf needs at least 8"/20cm.

Flying Saucer: (8"/20cm)
Pros -
- Quiet enough.
- Several Colours.
- Easy to clean.
- Not overly expensive.
Cons -
- Take up a lot of floor space.
- Hamsters can take some time to get used to them, and even then may not run on them properly.
- Hamsters tend to prefer upright wheels. My male hybrid barely used his while he had it.
- Substrate can get caught in the spindle, preventing spinning.

Karlie Wonderland Wheel: (8"/20cm)
Pros -
- Light weight. My 25g robo can move it easily.
- As near to silent as you can get. Can't even hear my robo other than a very faint pattering of feet if I listen closely. Male and female hybrids do make scratchy noises with their claws, but it's less annoying than the loud clicking of plastic wheels.
- Cheap for the quality.
Cons -
- Requires Plastikoting to make it easier to keep clean/make it last longer. Potty-trained hams can get away with just the inside of the wheel getting 2+ coats; hams that aren't potty-trained require the whole thing being Plastikoted.
- May require sanding down. Some people have reported splinters.

From the above, well...my preference is for the wooden wheels. Now all my hamsters have them (even redecorated my Syrian's cage so I could fit a P@H unbranded version in his cage; he got a new Savic Spelos as a house so win-win for him) and my intention is to always use them in the future, even if it does mean I have to spend a couple of hours painting Plastikote over them. =)

[virtualkeith]

where are you located?
I would also check out the 8" Wodent Wheel. They are great wheels and the only wheel approved by the ASPCA.

[cypher]

Jeir has pretty much covered it so I'm mostly repeating what's been said but here's my thoughts anyway!
If you're buying new wheels it may be best to forget the silent spinners! They used to be good little wheels but a lot of people have been having problems with them being way too stiff lately.
Apart from my old silent spinners, I use the middle size flying saucer, 8" Karlie wheel with & without cork & the 8" wooden wheels again both with & without cork from Rodipet.
I've found the wooden wheels to be the best, the hams love & they are quiet, you do need to give them a couple of coats of plastikote though to water proof them & check them regularly for chewing or splinters, I've never had a problem with mine but it has happened so always best to give the Karlie wheels a good check over before using them.
I haven't used the wodent wheels, a bit of a fiddle to clean if you're ham pees in them a lot but other than that they are really good wheels.

[virtualkeith]

As cypher says, the wodent wheel is a bit more work to clean, but when you take it apart, you can really get it thoroughly clean.
I've never used any of the wooden wheels as they are not readily available in the states, but my guess is that they are quieter than the wodent wheel. The wheel itself is quiet, but you do hear the hamsters feet running on the plastic surface. The wooden wheels are usually prettier if that matters.

[Fluffagrams]

I've used three different wheels with mine, one was a cheap thing that came with the Mini Duna Hamster Cage and that was very stiff. My Chinese struggled to move it so I replaced it fairly quickly and was using a Flying Saucer. Two of the Chinese boys I had could use it easily, as could my sister's Russian hybrid but the other Chinese boy couldn't get the hang of it and nor could May, my little Chinese girl.

I use Silent Spinners now and thankfully I was able to source the older design which runs quite freely. No it's not totally silent but it's better than the others I'd tried. The other one I'd contemplated was a wooden wheel but it was just a case of what I saw in the shops at the time.

[Jeir]

One thing I forgot to add in my list (and can't edit it now XD).

Flying Saucer:
Con -
- There are theories that the way hamsters run on these can cause or worsen the 'spinning' neurological disorder in dwarf hamsters, especially Robos. I've read a few threads here that have people saying their Robos started Spinning after being given a Saucer.

[Bingo]

Thank you Jeir I have 2 wooden ones on order