My Long Haired Cream Satin

[Holly]

He's very pretty Tammy - and definitely looks darker than I remember him at Blenheim.

The wheel issue is a difficult one - I know many people are against restricting wheels but I find it better to restrict wheel usage in very young hamsters as sometimes (often!) they'll do what your little one has done and run and run - to the detriment of their growth/weight gain. I believe that young hamsters need energy to grow and too much running can affect that.

I must add that I wouldn't ever not give them a wheel at all and, by the age your boy is now, I leave the wheel in all the time anyway as the main growing period is over (though they still grow and put on muscle after 10 weeks, obviously).

What I did with my Martesers/Smarterones - and what I'm doing now with the Minimars - is to restrict the wheel a little bit up to around 10 weeks of age - they had/have the wheel for a few hours each evening but not all night - then let them have it all the time once they reach about 10 weeks (unless I get a wheel addict when I might restrict it just a little longer). When they are small it is easy to find lots of other toys and tubes to help them amuse themselves when the wheel is gone - like most people I do think wheels are essential, I just don't want my babies running off all their growth energy.