As you may know by now, hamsters are nocturnal and active at night. And by active, I mean active! In the wild hamsters range on average 5 miles per night in search of food and nesting material, so as hamster owners we have to provide them with enough room and exercise to keep them happy. The first step is to provide a large enough cage, as discussed earlier. The next step is to provide them with an exercise wheel. Many of today’s cages come with a wheel built into the actual cage, but you can also buy free standing wheels to be placed into a cage or aquarium that doesn’t have one pre-installed.

The original type of exercise wheel has rungs and an open back, often with ‘spokes’ running across the diameter of the wheel. This type of wheel can be very dangerous for your hamster! Make sure when buying a wheel that it has a solid floor and back, and that no spokes are running across the open face of the wheel. The reason for the solid floor is that hamsters were regularly getting their legs caught in between the rungs of the old wheels, causing injury. The spokes on the old wheels were dangerous to hamsters as they could get their heads stuck in between them if they poked their heads out while running.

The Wodent Wheel is a solid wheel of new design, with a solid floor and back. There are no spokes, but entry holes instead to allow the hamster to easily enter and exit the wheel. It comes in many different shapes and sizes, and is preferred by many hamster owners.

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