Running Wheel Poop

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

tungee

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2019
Messages
2
I've had my chinchilla for a few months now, and I got him a new wheel recently. The new wheel is one of the silent wheels from Kaylee I believe. These wheels have no holes or slots for poop to come out from, so my chinchilla keeps getting it in his fur. Every time he runs I can hear the poop clattering around in there, and it eventually bounces onto his fur. It's not like a ridiculous mess or anything, I just pick the piece or two that gets in it. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this problem. It's consistent, every time he runs for any length of time he ends up getting some on him.
Incidentally, I do clean the wheel daily, but he poops often enough that, even if there's none in there when he starts running, he usually gets at least one in it.
Has anyone else experienced this and have a good way to deal with it. His cage is otherwise clean, I clean it out daily when I let him out. It's just that **** wheel that's the problem.
 
I'm guessing you mean the silent spinner? That wheel is way too small for chins anyway, and the way it's designed has been known to rip toes off. Wheels smaller then 14" cause their backs to bend backwards in order to run on them, causing back injury over time. It's also plastic, which chins should not have in their cage because they will eat it, and it will cause a blockage in their gut.

Chinchilla wheels need to be solid metal and at least 14" in diameter, ideally at least 16" though. Good safe wheels include the chin spin, silver surfer, and the metal flying saucer wheels, you can also find homemade style safe wheels on etsy. All of those don't have the curved lip on them that the silent spinner has so as they run the poop just slides right off the wheel.
 
Ok, thanks for the tips. I'll just get him a new wheel then. Sucks that they can market wheels that aren't actually good for chinchillas as wheels good for chinchillas
 
Back
Top