Death balls

[Marie5656]

When I first got Trixie, my husband wanted to get her a ball...now at the time, I still did not know everything about chins, but I knew enough to realize it was probably not such a good idea.
My husband got one anyway. :hair: I ended up putting clinky noisy things into it and gave it to a friend for her cats to play with..a giant jubgle ball. They loved it.

 

[kerri101]

I noticed they have huge plastic/rubber death balls at the fairs for humans and inside the people say they are pure nasty and smell and nasty sweat in them and gross....now if I would not want to ever get in that why would my chin or any other animal ewww ....I cant belive people would pay to get tortured in sweaty smelly ball....Ive seen people at 90 degree days in them yuck I never even thought about a ball for any animals just dont make sense seeing them fall all over and be scared and flip upside down not cute

 

[Chinbutt]

How could someone think its fun for the chin? They can't see clearly through the plastic, its hot and humid inside, when they run into something the ball stops and the chin gets slammed into the wall of the ball. They pee and roll around in it. Just because people are too lazy to chin proof a space they can run around freely, the chin gets tossed in a ball to make the owner "feel better they got to play". Its a cop out.

Those are pretty much my feelings on the topic. Our home office is pretty well chin proofed and I really enjoy all the pop corning and wall surfing that happens in here.

 

[DazzlRazzle]

I may be new at chin loving, but my Oscar absolutely loves the ball. I have never forced him into it, nor have I ever left him in there for long. The very first time that I got it for him, he was curious of the ball, and hopped into it, I'm guessing he thought that it was a little hide away. So after he hopped into the ball a couple of times, I put the lid onto it. He didn't know what to do at first, and just sat there. So after a minute, I took the lid off, and he hopped back out into his cage. Next time, I just held the ball next to the opening of his cage. He was a little suspicious of it, but hopped into it, and after he sat there for a minute, I put the lid on. He was a little cautious at first, but started to roll around ever so slowly. Every time since that, he jumps into his ball immediately when I hold it up to his cage, and he loves to cruise around. Every time that he rolls to his cage, or stops running around for a couple of minutes, I take him back to his cage. If he hops out of it, I leave him be. But if he stays in, I put the lid back on and let him roll away! I would take him out of his cage to run around by himself in a room that is actually made just for him, but he doesn't even like to be petted right now. He's about 7 months old right now, and I am spending time every day just sitting and talking to the fella trying for him to get to know me. AND I make sure that the ball is nice and clean every time before I offer him the ball. At least he is getting SOME amount of time outside of his cage every day. The least amount of time that he has spent in it was about 10 minutes. The most amount of time has been a hour and a half, and that is with offering him to go back into his cage every 15-20 minutes.

 

[e.murphy518]

I just got my first two chins about three weeks ago (beautiful boys you can see pics on the introduction forum!) anyway, their previous owner told me when i got them that she had a death ball AND a leash/harness for them if i wanted it. Luckily i encountered this and another forum before i got them and I told her I didn't need either torture device for exercise I am now in the process of putting together a chin-safe play area out of their cage

 

[pasoindy]

When I was a kid, I had a hamster and one of those balls - there were no Chin sized ones back then. Anyway, he was rolling around in the living room when my grandma came through carrying some laundry. She didn't see him and kicked him clear across the room and into the wall. He was stunned by the impact. By some miracle he was not injured, but that was the end of the death ball.
He peed in it a lot which was gross anyway. And never ever make Lego forts for a hamster... Pee City, Population: 1

 

[kickster]

My brother got one for his two rats, but they couldn't move it and he gave it to me. The only way I use it is to transport them downstairs to the play area. without the lid. I used to use death balls for hamsters but now they are. Death balls so no more torture.

 

[finallygotachilla]

Well i actually tried my chinchilla in one of these balls totally supervised. I dont know which ones people have seen but mine is really large and has excellent ventilation.
My chinchilla has never peed in this and any poop drops straight out of the ball as soon as she'd pooped, everytime. I'd like to point out that i have only tried her in it on 3 occassions but she only made a slight role and would normally just sit there in it like she couldnt figure it out.

 

[Jesseman1]

I used to have hamsters and had an old ball sitting in a drawer, so I put my chin in it just to see what she would do; the ball was too small and after a few minutes of only rolling backwards in confusion I pulled her out to let her run normally. Chinchillas just don’t seem suited for the ball.