Hamster Balls

[nonamian_girl]

Do hamsters really like those things? They seem rather cruel to me but as we learned from today, hamster floor time is not the greatest idea.

[kimberly78]

Well we can only guess after all right?! When I had my 1st hammie he escaped his cage during the night only to find him alseep in the open excerise ball I had on the floor LMAO guess he loved his.

[Ly&Pigs]

I give my hamster and gerbil floortime, separately of course. Both really enjoy it. I set up a pet playpen and they have a blast. I put things in there for them to climb on and run through. I also have a ball that Gracie loves. She enjoys going all over the house in it. They aren't cruel to hamsters who love to run in wheels.

[flower power :@]

My hamster does not go in one, i'm too scared of the top falling off .
So like Ly i give him floor time and he loves it as he is VERY active, i just bought him a super sized wheel and he is having a blast in it and does not squeek and keep me awake like the last one did!

poppy
xx

[daftscotslass]

My current hamster is quite apathetic about it. My previous hamster was obsessed by it, though. They are fine but best just to limit them to 10-15 minutes in it.

[Percy's Mom]

Wynnie absolutely adores her ball. I think she likes it more than her wheel, but since the wheel is solid and she's nocturnal, I'm not really sure how much she uses it. She'll run all over the place in the ball though, and curls up to nap when she gets tired. I usually pick her up and back into the cage she goes then. The cats and dog only pay attention if the ball stops. Very wierd animals I have.

[aqh88]

Most of our hamsters never got the idea and just sat there or ran into things. My gerbils got so stressed out by it one actually went into seizures. I mostly use the playpens for them. For the gerbils I had to tie 2 playpens on top of each other because Rasheeka always managed to jump over the 10" sides. Altair still escaped once when it was 20" high. He used the spot where they connected to push himself even higher. Eventually I went to blocking off areas I didn't want them to go instead of keeping them in one spot. Hamsters are so much easier to contain but dwarf hamsters get lost easier than gerbils. I always had gerbils running loose in my room and I never lost one but my sister lost about 3 dwarf hamsters. They always showed up again either back in their cage or somewhere in her room. They liked to take toilet paper and make a nest somewhere so even after we recovered the hamster 2 weeks later we'd find a toilet paper nest around the house.

[Marlania]

Our late hamster, Ozzy, absolutely loved his ball. He tore through the house in that thing, and nothing stopped him, except when he'd get the ball stuck between the toilet and the bathroom wall. I don't think I've ever had another hamster as fast, strong, or determined as Ozzy. Man, I miss that little guy.

[2pigs4rats]

My hamster used to love running in her ball, most hamsters do I think.

[Licorice]

My hamster Hamlet loved his ball. He would either follow me around or come looking for me when I called him while he was in it. When he woke up he would stand and wait for me to put it in his cage so he could climb in. I lost Hamlet around this time last year and I still miss him, though not his biting.

I love watching my hamster Othello in his - he learned to make it go in the opposite direction when it gets stuck.

[naturestee]

My dwarf hamster (RIP Fuzznugget) loved his ball. I would put it in his cage, he'd climb in, and then I'd lift it out. It was my compromise with him because he would not stop biting. He liked to run after movement- my legs, the rabbits, etc. He also liked to run from the carpet onto the linoleum- the ball would spin and slide around. It was apparently a lot of fun, as he'd do it over and over.

Actually, Fuzznugget was afraid of large open spaces. I tried to have him play on the couch like the hamsters I had when I was a kid. Just throw a blanket on it, wrinkle it for some fun tunnels and such, and let the hammie go. But it always terrified him. So when he was out of his cage, he was either in the ball or in a very large box with lots of litter for digging, hidey houses, and fun things to climb on. But he was always the most confident when he was in his ball.

Of course, I remember some of my childhood hamsters weren't very fond of the ball. It really depends on their personality.

[TabithaTwitchit]

Rover loves her Hamster ball! When I hold it up to her, she zips inside! I'd suggest a Hamster ball.

[TabithaTwitchit]

Rover is my Hamster, incase you didn't catch that.

[Butterz-Digger]

I have dwarf hamsters and I have heard that the balls can be unsafe for them, because they are so small. Is this true?

[Percy's Mom]

I'm pretty sure they're fine for hamsters. At least I've never heard otherwise. Hamsters are flexible enough that they don't get hurt running around in a ball, as opposed to guinea pigs who aren't built for them at all.

[TabithaTwitchit]

I used to have Dwarf Hamsters and they're definitely safer in the ball than they are out of it! As long as you keep an eye on them, they'll be fine.

[HazElnUt5]

my hamster LOVED those things! they are perfectly fine for hamsters