what's the longest I should have Junior out at one time?

[deeboh]

I only take him out for about 15-20 mins at at a time. I'm always afraid he's thirsty or has to go to the bathroom. When I put him in his ball, I only let him run for 10 or so minutes at a time. Am I being overly careful?

[flogging_molly]

as a rule of thumb its fine to let him out for 20 minutes (averagely) in his ball then put him back in the cage. My lot get around 30 minutes in their ball and are fine but yes your doing the right thing in giving him rest stops.

[deeboh]

cool, thanks for letting me know. :D

[Emma]

On the whole if they have to go to the bathroom they'll just do it! I agree with 20 mins ball time is plenty long enough, but I will let mine have free playtime (usually with me on the double bed with lots of toys about) for longer than that 30-40 minutes or so.

[nooboo]

as long as you don't mind cleaning a ball out I let them have almost as much as they want, I usually try to put them back in the cage every 25-30 mins, half the time they refuse, sometimes the go in only to bug to come back out again. I let my hamsters boss me about :oops:

[Emma]

There's a good article on the site about exercise balls, and reasons why time in them should be limited.



http://www.hamstercentral.com/a_hamsterball.php

[babyboos]

20 minutes is the absolute maximum hamsters should be in their balls for each sitting with a forced 5 minute break in between sessions. They are not good at regulating their temperature and it does get quite humid and sweaty in the ball, plus all that pee and poo is not good for you to have all over your floor.