Possible blood found on Pumpkin's wheel

[racinghamster]

Cork cut to size does sound like a good solution as a layer for the wonderland wheel. Although I would put some thought into what paints are out there that might even have a rubber sealant? I had a bit of a eureka moment about looking for products made from food grade rubber or silicone that could be cut down to measure the wheel diameter and then glued into place using a glue that is safe, but also very strong once dry, taking care that the glue didn`t seap over the silicone. Baking products are made from silicone these days so there are bound to be sheets of the stuff on the market, like non-slip mats? These could be cut to fit inside the running surface of a wonderland wheel and then once glued securely, the rubber underfoot surface would create a good grip and also be easier to clean?

Any thoughts? x

[racinghamster]

Something like these: Large Silicone Pastry Mat Rolling Cutting Fondant Dough Baking Sheet colorful | eBay

Just had a quick google and these came up. Food grade silicone rather than non-food grade is probably the safer option, but if the sheets were long/wide enough, they could easily be cut with a Stanley knife/craft knife, fitted inside the wonderland wheel and glued securely into place. x

[cypher]

I'm not sure I'd want silicone in my hamster wheel! Food grade may be safe for cooking, I guess it means nothing is going to leach out but I still wouldn't be happy with the possibility of chewing & it does strike me as the sort of thing that might just be very tempting for a ham!
I'm not sure there's any safe paint or sealant you could use for cork either, being slightly springy it would give a bit as they run so anything on it would most likely crack & the pee would still get in.

[Leila0420]

I've had a reply from Zooplus but nothing from Karlie yet. They said: 'Thank you for your message. Please accept our sincere apologies, we will forward your feedback to the Manufacturer. Please dispose of the item at your leisure. We have refunded you with 9.99 GBP for the defective article.' I did think about giving the refunded money to a hamster rescue but I get the feeling I'll end up using it buying things to try and make the wheel safe for use...

Both the adhesive cork and silicone mats look like a really good possible covering! I'm moving into a new house in 3 weeks and both could be useful items in general so I might buy them and make a decision after they've arrived. I'm guessing that if you covered the cork in a good few layers of plastikote it would stop any little chewer from getting as far as the adhesive? Or maybe that's a bit risky. The silicone does look like a really comfy surface too! Any recommendations for a suitable glue?

And Serendipity, please let me know about the Wodent wheels! I'm half hoping that after 3 nights of not having a wheel pumpkin will no longer feel the need to pee on it but we'll see. I'm not too bothered about a noisy wheel too, I've kept her cage right outside my bedroom door since I got her so I can keep an eye on her (so I can hear her during the night really) but she'll have a new space once we've moved and she's properly settled in.

I gave her a boredom breaker toy last night to keep her occupied (bought it on discount when I got her cage and was saving it for a special occasion) and after about 20 mins of intense chewing at it I opened one of the sections for her. Checked her this morning and she'd got the other one open herself so I'm feeling pretty proud!!

[racinghamster]

Chewing at things is a hamster`s perogative! I suppose I was trying to think of solutions that could be used but only perhaps as a `trial run` if anyone wanted to have a go at it. Say for example (like Serendipity) you had an old or wonky wonderland wheel. Take this wheel, get some silicone and suitable rubber glue (be careful as some glues can burn or not adhere to certain surfaces) and have a go. Make sure the silicone is just short of the edge of the wheel (not level with or hanging over the edge) and se ow it turns out?

There are probably other ways of coating or covering the wooden surface, but a thin layer or silicone may work. x

[cypher]

Leila great that zooplus gave you a refund & Pumpkin looks really cute with her new toy, I'm sure that helped make up for being temporarily wheeless!

RH I'm sure sticking silicone or cork would work but I'm just not sure how safe it would be, I wonder too if their claws might tear at the cork a bit as they run.

[racinghamster]

Your right cypher, It`s all well and good considering these things but safety is paramount. I went off and had another google looking at safe paints for pets and how to coat a wooden hamster wheel and at the end of the day, I think using Plastikote in a build up of layers between drying times is possibly the best way to go. It makes the wooden surface smoother and coats the wood to prevent rough running. I did like the silicone/latex idea, but looking at how this could be applied without using substances that could be harmful isn`t worth risking. I couldn`t find any videos or instructional evidence of anyone having tried this already.

The only other thing I thought of was buying a tube of the safest aquarium sealant and painting this onto the wooden running surface to `seal` it? That way the rubbery feeling would be underfoot, but there wouldn`t be anything for the hamster to `grip` onto? It would also be water tight! I found this:
http://www.reptilecentre.com/king-br...g#.VUIvzlJ0zrc

It could be painted on thinly onto the wheel surface. Thoughts?

[Pebbles82]

Now that you've had a refund, like I did - the world is your oyster lol. Wodent wheel didn't arrive today but yes I'll let you know. I think the main problem I'd have with sticking something in the track of the Karlie wheel is - removing the struts lol. Apparently one of the wodent wheel tracks fits it (I googled something earlier and came across this, but not sure if it was the junior or senior track that fits the karlie wheel - but then you might as well just get a wodent wheel. I actually think it's not going to be quite big enough for Charlie and he'd need the Wobust, which would be a pain as it half fills my cage. Really I'd like to get one of the Rodipet ones but will need to wait till I have a cage it'll fit in.

[Leila0420]

So I was looking at the Karlie website last night and found that they actually sell a cork based wonderland bogie wheel: Karlie- Ihr Shop. The description next to it says 'cork is better for the nails of small animals, less injuries' which made me a bit angry - if they know their traditional wheel can damage small animals then why haven't they put a disclaimer on the product or why aren't they marketing the cork wheel as their main product because I can't find for sale anywhere other than the Karlie website...
I suppose this kind of answers your worries though Cyper as it looks like cork is a safer material. Although I'm not sure how much I want to trust a statement found on the Karlie website now. Hmmm...

What kind of cage do you have for Charlie by the way Serendipity? Is it more a problem of the top being too low for the wheel to fit properly?

I'm not sure about the aquarium sealant (just cos of the chewing risk). Although I guess if you waited until it was semi-dry and ran a fork in stripes along it that could add grip? I really like that this thread is now turning into a hamster wheel safety assessment and improvement analysis though

I think I will try and cork the wheel and plastikote it then see what pumpkin thinks. Serendipity is right though, I think getting the struts off will be the hardest part... Worst comes to the worst if it doesn't work I'll just take the wheel apart to see where they're hiding the axles!

[cypher]

I find that a bit of an odd statement tbh & maybe they just say that as a selling point, so long as wheels are checked for splinters or damage obviously I personally think wood is probably better as running on it should help keep their nails down a little, cork is probably very nice to run on though! I wasn't actually worried about the safety of the cork itself just the glues if you decided to try a bit of DIY with it, I'm sticking to tried & tested wood with plenty of plastikote!