Exotic Nutrition: Silent Runner

[ZombehUnicorn]

I just recently rescued my hedgie, and had to order a bigger wheel for him because his previous owner had him on a flying saucer that was absolutely tiny! This wheel has been a life saver and so far I have had no problems with it. No noise what so ever. My only con is that while it can be easy to clean, it gets messy quite quickly. Hes currently running on it like crazy and I can't sleep because I can hear his little pitter patters while he is running right now, so I thought I would write this. He absolutely enjoys it and runs for hours on end.

[nikki]

Close fronted wheels like that aren't recommended for hedgehogs for a couple of reasons. First the closed front hold the urine and feces in and doesn't allow any of it to drain off while the hedgehog is running. Secondly hedgehogs often jump on and off their wheel while it's still turning and the openings often hit them when they do this.

[ZombehUnicorn]

Yikes. I had no idea, the closed part comes off pretty easily. Should I just take it off?

[ZombehUnicorn]

I had no idea, sorry. I'm a fairly new hedgie owner, Should I just remove the closed end? It comes off fairly easily

[nikki]

How sturdy is the wheel without the front section on it? In my experience that type of wheel needs the front section for support. If you can safely remove it and still have a sturdy wheel then I would remove it, otherwise I'd get a different wheel.

[k.kariah]

Originally Posted by ZombehUnicorn

I had no idea, sorry. I'm a fairly new hedgie owner, Should I just remove the closed end? It comes off fairly easily

I also have the silent runner wheel.. Did you end up removing the front? I'm considering cutting the middle part off of the front piece.