Hamster not using her wheel as much anymore.

[FirefoxMiho]

I'm actually very concerned. I just upgraded her cage a week and a half ago and since then, she's not been using her wheel very much but she is very much an active hamster and lets me know when she's in the mood for playtime.

She uses it late at night but not much. When I first got her, she used to be on her wheel the entire night to the point of waking nearly the entire house up. Now she's not using it anymore. She uses it more so as a grooming / poop bucket and a tool for escape rather than an exercise wheel.

I had her since January and she is estimated at the time to be about 12 months old. She shows no signs of slowing down or aging but I'm still remaining on the lookout of any signs of old age. She's eating and drinking very well though.

I have a 8.5" comfort wheel that hasn't been used since I upgraded the wheel. A 12" silent spinner and a 12" saucer. She's currently using the silent spinner.

I'm worried that she's not getting enough exercise. What should I do?

[cypher]

Silent spinners often don't work well & can be hard to spin so it may be the wheel that's the problem.
It sounds as though she's doing fine in every other way so that seems most likely.

[velma]

Like cypher said, check the wheel spins freely. But it may just be that she's been settling in and getting to know her new surroundings. If she's had an upgrade it may mean she's still a little nervy about her surroundings. Or she's fine but is still figuring out what everything is. Presumably if she's got more space, she's got new stuff to check out

Not sure if you mean she's 12 months old now or was when you got her? But I found my girl Cleo started to get a little slower from around 18 months on.

[FirefoxMiho]

Originally Posted by cypher

Silent spinners often don't work well & can be hard to spin so it may be the wheel that's the problem.
It sounds as though she's doing fine in every other way so that seems most likely.

I actually have a lot of bedding so the friction of the bedding might be the issue of why she's not running well on it?

[cypher]

Could be, can you stand the wheel on something to make sure it doesn't get caught up in the bedding?
I would still check it spins easily anyway.

[CMB]

You could stop the bedding from blocking the wheel with bendy bridges on their edge.

[FirefoxMiho]

Originally Posted by velma

Like cypher said, check the wheel spins freely. But it may just be that she's been settling in and getting to know her new surroundings. If she's had an upgrade it may mean she's still a little nervy about her surroundings. Or she's fine but is still figuring out what everything is. Presumably if she's got more space, she's got new stuff to check out

Not sure if you mean she's 12 months old now or was when you got her? But I found my girl Cleo started to get a little slower from around 18 months on.

She was approximately 12 months when I got her. Not sure her age. But she's still active when she wants to be. She's just sleeping a lot more.

[flowerfairy]

My Gopal (who will be 2 in September) doesnt use his wheel as much as he used to. He has a karlie wooden wheel from zooplus.