wheel addiction

selkie · 01-15-2009, 06:40 AM

unfortunately, i have had several hamsters become seriously addicted to their wheels and have never managed to make them stop

i worry as they dont eat or sleep as much, i even had one wee girl literally run herself to death.

the only similarity is it only seems to affect my campbells, maybe just cos they are the species i have kept the most? or maybe they have an addictive personality.

as some of you probably know, its not a simple case of removing the wheel cos they go demented, and getting them out more doesnt do it either as i would literally have to have them out all night every night! anyway, im convinced when they are out, they just search for a wheel obsessively.

anyone any ideas how i can sort this? my beautiful argente boy Caramel is addicted to his UFO, hes only 6 months old and i worry every day im going to find him dead before his time

souffle · 01-16-2009, 03:58 AM

We find hamsters regulate their running to a correct level of excercise. Baby hamsters tend to over-run when they first get a wheel but normally settle after a week or so. I doubt they search for a wheel though. They just want to be out and investigating! I would simply only allow wheel access for a limited period each day. With our youngsters we put in in about 7.30pm and remove it when we go to bed so they have it for the evening only. Settled adults have it full time unless they are losing weight. You could weigh them each week. A hamster who maintains a good weight or puts on weight at a steady pace if it is a youngster is not over-running. You need to provide lots of other toys also such as boxes and tubes and chewies for them to play in when they have no wheel. Thinks like millet sprays and nibble sticks can provide interest as well as extra energy for running. Dwarfs are busy little creatures and always on the go. A wild hamster would likely cover several miles in an evening foraging and digging so the wheel compensates for this behavior. Make sure they have one wheel each if in groups so that one is not running to 'hog' the wheel over the others.