Hamster Wheel - Use By Animals

Use By Animals

Like other rodents, hamsters are highly motivated to run in wheels; it is not uncommon to record distances of 9 km (5.6 mi) being run in one night. Other 24-h records include 43 km (27 mi) for rats, 31 km (19 mi) for wild mice, 19 km (12 mi) for lemmings, 16 km (9.9 mi) for laboratory mice, and 8 km (5.0 mi) for gerbils. Hypotheses to explain such high levels of running in wheels include a need for activity, substitute for exploration, and stereotypic behaviour, but various experimental results strongly suggest that wheel running, like play or the runner's high, is rewarding in and of itself and highly valued by the animals (in the sense that they are willing to work for it - i.e. bar-press or lift weighted doors). This makes running wheels a popular type of enrichment to the captivity conditions of rodents.

Hamsters keep on using wheels even in captivity conditions that include other kinds of enrichment. In one experiment, Syrian hamsters that could use tunnels to access a total of five cages, each containing a toy, showed no more than a 25% reduction in running-wheel use as compared to hamsters housed in a single cage without toys (except for the running wheel). In another study, female Syrian hamsters housed with a nestbox, bedding, hay, paper towels, cardboard tubes, and branches were observed using a wheel regularly, and benefitted from it in showing less stereotypic bar-gnawing and producing larger litters of young as compared to females kept under the same conditions but without a wheel.

Running in wheels can be so intense in hamsters that it may result in foot lesions, which appear as small cuts on the paw pads or toes. Such paw wounds rapidly scab over and do not prevent hamsters from continuing to run in their wheel.