Do You Need a Hamster Wheel for Your Dwarf Hamster?

Do you need a hamster wheel for your dwarf hamster or even any other hamster? The short answer is yes! Hamsters are active little creatures that need plenty of exercise. A hamster wheel is not just an accessory for your cage, but a necessary item for the health and wellness of your pet hamster. Robo dwarf hamsters, for example, have been known to travel up to a distance of 4 human marathons every night. That is about 100 miles and plenty of running. In a cage or tank, your pet hamster can only get all that running if you provide it with a hamster wheel.

How to pick a good hamster wheel

A good hamster wheel should be a solid one without rungs. The gaps between the rungs are dangerous and may cause your dwarf hamster to break a limb if they fall though it while running at high speed.

The hamster wheel should also produce little or no sound. If your cage is in your bedroom, you don’t want to get a squeaky wheel because your hamster(s) will be running on it all night.

The wheel should be an appropriate size. Larger may not always be better and your dwarf hamster may struggle running in a wheel that’s too big for it. A 6.5″ wheel is a good size.

Do you need a standing wheel or one that’s attached to your cage? Be sure to get the right one. Some hamster wheels are attachable to cages but cannot stand on their own. If there isn’t a place for you to attach the wheel, make sure you get one with a stand.

The Super Pet Hamster Silent Spinner 6 1/2 Inch Exercise Wheel is a hamster wheel that meets the above requirements.

Here’s another video of my white face robo dwarf hamsters, Ichigo and Blueberry running on their wheels. Sorry about the video quality! This was my first ever attempt at a video.

Here’s a Vine video of Ichigo running on his wheel. You can check out the rest of our Vines here.

Penelope

Please someone help me teach my robo to use its wheel. I rescues her from a pet store who was keeping her in a storage closet Tupperware bin to avoid mistakingly selling her for a healthy one ;(
In the Tupperware she had a half chewed I gloo and a water bottle abd was in darkness 99% of her life. Again this just sickened me so I immediately purchased her and took her home, she is the cutest thing wish I could insert a pic but the poor thing firsnt have a clue as to what to do with her wheel. Do I put her in eithny other robos? They are in sep cages themselves bc I heard they fight. My heart breaks for her but I don’t know what to do to help her, does anyone have any ideas? If so please email me at Shelley.Biagini@Comcast.net
Navi The Hamster

At the pet store I only had a wire wheel, and then when my owner brought me home she put in this new thing that didn’t look like a wheel at all! She told me it was becuase that other one is dangerous. I tried using the weird one but it was no good. I didn’t use it so she would be forced to get me the other. Being a selfconcuies hamster I suggest get her/him the wheel they had at the shop 😉
Dwarf Hamster Blog

Hi, I find that most hamsters who don’t use the wheel don’t know how to use it. Try luring your hamster on to the wheel with the treat and continue to hold the treat in front of him so that he’s running on the wheel to get to the treat. Let him run for 5 to 10 seconds before giving it to him. Hopefully he figures out how to use the wheel. You might have to repeat this a few times.

It could also be that he’s running on the wheel at night while you’re asleep since hamsters are more active at that time.
Hailey Nicole Field

Is 4.5 too small for a White Russian Dwarf? I just got one and thought the 6.5 looked too big but now the 4.5 looks too small!

How to pick a good hamster wheel

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