Traditional wheel or Flying saucer wheel?

[Teakadevil]

We lost our Robo Hamster Mr Sleepy when he got injured on one of the saucer wheels as far as we can figure out. We noticed he did not seem as active one evening and was laying down a lot but figured he was just tired or just not being his active self. By the next morning he was not doing any better but before I could get him to the vet he unfortunately passed. We think he might have been flung off the saucer type wheel and into the glass as we keep our hamsters in aquariums instead of cages. We waited some time before we decided to get another Robo for fear that we would be dealing with the same thing and couldn't bear the thought of it. So now we have a Syrian named Cheeks that we rescued and we finally gave in and got another Robo (Buddy) but we also got a traditional wheel. The Syrian has a saucer type wheel and it is fine because he is a lot slower then the Robo and we have never seen him go fast enough to get hurt on it. My concern now is our Robo (Buddy) runs so fast on the traditional wheel that he goes flying off it although most times he just lands right in front of it and not flung far from it but I am still concerned. They are both in large aquariums Buddy is in a 45 gallon and Cheeks is in a 60 gallon.

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome An upright wheel is best anyway as they run properly. Particularly for a Syrian. Syrians, being larger, can run quite bent on a flying saucer - even on a 12" one. I do have a 12" saucer and sometimes use it just for out of cage time in a playpen. My last Syrian loved that - but he loved his upright wheel as well.

So yes they both need an upright wheel The Syrian will need one that's 11" or 12" diameter. If the saucer is a 12" one you could maybe keep it for playpen time. If it's smaller than that then it's not suitable for a Syrian.

I've had a couple of robos and they do tend to fly out. It helps if they can only land on nice soft bedding. But surprisingly they don't seem to hurt themselves when they fly out I've found. They tend to fly out of an upright wheel initially and then get the hang of it and it doesn't happen any more.

Both my robos absolutely loved flying saucers. I think Robos will run on anything. The first one had both a saucer and a wheel in his cage, and used both. The second one just had a saucer in the playpen and he loved running on that. But it's easier to keep an eye on them in the playpen and have nothing hard to land on nearby.

I am so sorry about Mr Sleepy. Are you sure it was an injury from saucer wheel use, or just old age? Depending how old he was of course. Robos do seem to suddenly go downhill very quickly.

 

[Teakadevil]

Hello and welcome An upright wheel is best anyway as they run properly. Particularly for a Syrian. Syrians, being larger, can run quite bent on a flying saucer - even on a 12" one. I do have a 12" saucer and sometimes use it just for out of cage time in a playpen. My last Syrian loved that - but he loved his upright wheel as well.

So yes they both need an upright wheel The Syrian will need one that's 11" or 12" diameter. If the saucer is a 12" one you could maybe keep it for playpen time. If it's smaller than that then it's not suitable for a Syrian.

I've had a couple of robos and they do tend to fly out. It helps if they can only land on nice soft bedding. But surprisingly they don't seem to hurt themselves when they fly out I've found. They tend to fly out of an upright wheel initially and then get the hang of it and it doesn't happen any more.

Both my robos absolutely loved flying saucers. I think Robos will run on anything. The first one had both a saucer and a wheel in his cage, and used both. The second one just had a saucer in the playpen and he loved running on that. But it's easier to keep an eye on them in the playpen and have nothing hard to land on nearby.

I am so sorry about Mr Sleepy. Are you sure it was an injury from saucer wheel use, or just old age? Depending how old he was of course. Robos do seem to suddenly go downhill very quickly.

Yes we are pretty sure he was flung off the saucer wheel and injured as he had head trauma and was in no way dropped or anything like that and he was only about 7 months old. Our Syrian seems ok with the saucer in his aquarium as he is an older guy and doesn't move very fast but loves to get under his saucer wheel and spin it with his feet lol. As I have said he is a rescue that when we got him he was all matted and so skinny you could literally feel every little bone in his body. He is about 2 years old and not very fast and he likes his saucer wheel because the people who had him had a little 6 inch wheel in a cage that was so tiny he could barely move around and not sure if his back was injured because of that or not. He runs just not near as fast as my Robo.

 

[Maz]

That is so sad about the Robo. I always used to worry about them flying off wheels and saucers but they seemed pretty resilient. They might be less likely to jump out of a wheel with holes in the front like the Silent runner 9" one. Or the trixie 20cm one.

If your Syrian is quite old and enjoys his saucer then that sounds ok. Is it a 12" one? If it's not then he wont' be able to run fast anyway! It would be hard work on a smaller saucer. And not really good for him. Would you be able to fit in an upright wheel as well? He may really enjoy that and run faster.