Cobos, E. J., Ghasemlou, N., Araldi, D., Segal, D., Duong, K., & Woolf, C. J. (2012). Inflammation-induced decrease in voluntary wheel running in mice: a nonreflexive test for evaluating inflammatory pain and analgesia. PAIN®, 153(4), 876-884. Recent theory suggests that hamster balls are not recommended for exercise outside of the cage. The balls prevent the rodent from using touch (whiskers) and smell to navigate the area. It also restricts airflow and can catch toes/tails in the slits meant for airflow. Rayner, Matthew (2004). Hamster. Milwaukee, Wis.: Gareth Stevens. ISBN 9780836846171 . Retrieved 21 June 2020. Mrosovsky, N.; Salmon, P.A.; Vrang, N. (1998). "Revolutionary science: an improved running wheel for hamsters". Chronobiology International. 15 (2): 147–158. doi: 10.3109/07420529808998679. PMID 9562919. Choice tests with mice have also shown a preference for larger wheels (17.5cm over 13cm in diameter) and a preference for plastic mesh over rungs and over solid plastic as a running surface. [4] More acrobatic species, such as the canyon mouse ( Peromyscus crinitus) and the deer mouse ( Peromyscus maniculatus) can develop preferences for wheels that force the animals to jump, such as square wheels or wheels with hurdles along the running surface. [5] [6] [7] Use by animals [ edit ] An ocicat on a running wheel

A related exercise device is a running disc. This is a rotatable shallow bowl, or slightly concave disc, which is set an angle to the horizontal. [40] Some commercial refuges for caged rodents have a disc mounted on the roof at a slight angle. The rodents run on the rim of the disc in a similar way to running in hamster wheels. Sherwin, C.M., 1998, The use and perceived importance of three resources which provide caged laboratory mice the opportunity of extended locomotion, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 55: 353-367. a b c Sherwin, C.M., 1998, Voluntary wheel running: A review and novel interpretation, Animal Behaviour, 56: 11–27 Kolb, E. M., E. L. Rezende, L. Holness, A. Radtke, S. K. Lee, A. Obenaus, and T. Garland, Jr. 2013. Mice selectively bred for high voluntary wheel running have larger midbrains: support for the mosaic model of brain evolution. Journal of Experimental Biology 216:515-523. Tierärztliche Vereinigung für Tierschutz (TVT) recommends wheels should be at least 20cm (8") for dwarf hamsters and at least 30cm (12") for Syrian hamsters, since smaller diameters lead to permanent spinal curvatures, especially in young animals. They also recommend a solid running surface because rungs or mesh can cause injury. [33]

To provide a suitable environment and to protect hamsters from pain and suffering the following changes need to be made so that pet keepers are not breaking the law:

Reebs, S.G.; Maillet, D. (2003). "Effect of cage enrichment on the daily use of running wheels by Syrian hamsters". Chronobiology International. 20 (1): 9–20. doi: 10.1081/CBI-120018329. PMID 12638687. S2CID 21925891.

Tierärztliche Vereinigung für Tierschutz ( TVT) recommends wheels should be at least 20cm (8″) for Dwarf Hamsters and at least 30cm (12″) for Syrian Hamsters, since smaller diameters lead to permanent spinal curvatures, especially in young animals. “ The research also found that hamsters use their wheel for an average distance of 8.3km per night.Belke, T.W., and Wagner, J.P. 2005. The reinforcing property and the rewarding aftereffect of wheel running in rats: a combination of two paradigms. Behavioral Processes 68: 165-172. Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 1949, p. B20/4 (advt.), referenced in Oxford English Dictionary, Draft Additions, Sep. 2007, under entry “Hamster.” This article is about the exercise device for rodents. For the Australian television satirical comedy series, see The Hamster Wheel. Wooden Hamster Wheel, size 33cm Like other rodents, hamsters are highly motivated to run in wheels. De Bono, J. P., D. Adlam, D. J. Paterson, and K. M. Channon. 2005. Novel quantitative phenotypes of exercise training in mouse models. American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 290:R926–R934.

Wheels which are smaller than 28cm (11″) should not be advertised as being suitable for a Syrian Hamster. It is a criminal offence to ignore the requirements of The Animal Welfare Act: – to provide a suitable environment and to protect your pet from pain, injury and suffering. When selling unsuitable products retailers are misleading you as a customer to break the law. Try and decide whether a saucer or wheel is the better design for your hamster. Remember that a larger hamster would require a bigger flying saucer, which could take up a lot of room in their cage. Therefore flying saucers can often be a better choice for smaller hamsters, but it really is up to you. Alderton, David (2002). Hamster: a practical guide to caring for your hamster. London: Collins. p.128. ISBN 9780007122820 . Retrieved 21 June 2020. Anyone who’s ever had a hamster before knows that while an exercise wheel is often the joy of your little furballs life, it is conversely nearly always the bain of yours.Banjanin, S., and Mrosovsky, N., 2000, Preferences of mice, Mus musculus, for different types of running wheel, Laboratory Animals, 34: 313–318. Kandasamy, R., Calsbeek, J. J., & Morgan, M. M. (2016). Home cage wheel running is an objective and clinically relevant method to assess inflammatory pain in male and female rats. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 263, 115-122. To make it worse, hamsters are nocturnal creatures too, which means you can often say goodbye to sleep and hello to midnight marathons.

a b c Reebs, S. G.; St-Onge, P (2005). "Running wheel choice by Syrian hamsters". Laboratory Animals. 39 (4): 442–451. doi: 10.1258/002367705774286493. PMID 16197712. S2CID 21311908. Hamsters showed no preference between a relatively uniform running surface made of plastic mesh and a surface made of rungs spaced 9mm apart, although they did prefer the mesh compared to rungs spaced 12mm apart, most likely because of the wider space between the rungs allowed their legs to slip through. [2] The hamsters neither preferred nor avoided wheels that had small "speed bumps" installed along the running surface to provide environmental enrichment. [2] In rodents, voluntary exercise is almost always measured by the use of wheels. This makes running wheels the tool of choice in research on the effects of exercise and voluntary activity on metabolism, obesity, and pain. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] Aschoff, J., Figala, J., and Poppel, E. 1973. Circadian rhythms of locomotor activity in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) measured with two different techniques. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 85: 20-28. Morin, L. 1978. Rhythmicity of hamster gnawing: Ease of measurement and similarity to running activity. Physiology and Behavior 21: 317-320Blue Cross is one of the UK’s leading animal charities established over 125 years ago, they recommend the following hamster wheel sizes for different species: To provide a suitable environment and to protect hamsters from pain and suffering the following changes need to be made so that pet keepers are not breaking the law: Most plastic wheels tend to be incredibly squeaky and noisy, and given hamsters can run up to 6 miles in one day, the endless rattling can soon become a living hell. Gattermann R., Weinandy R., and Fritzsche P. 2004. Running-wheel activity and body composition in golden hamsters ( Mesocricetus auratus). Physiology and Behavior 82: 541-544.