If you own a hamster, you may already know that these animals love playing by themselves and are pretty active even when they are left alone. This is due in large part to the hamster wheel, which allows the hamster to move and play all on its own whenever it wants to. But it can be pretty annoying whenever the hamster is playing with its hamster wheel at night because of all the noise it makes. So, should you take your hamster wheel out at night?
Hamster wheels should not be taken out during the night because hamsters are nocturnal animals that prefer to be active whenever it’s nighttime. They can even run up to five miles every single night. Taking the hamster wheel out at night will be sort of cruel because of how you are taking away its source of fun.
Because it is never really advisable for you to take your hamster’s wheel away during the night because you are taking away its only source of fun and activity whenever it is most active, there should be alternatives on your part if you feel like hamster wheels are too noisy at night. That’s what this article is here for.
Table of Contents
What happens if you take your hamster’s wheel out at night?
For those who didn’t know, hamsters are actually nocturnal animals. That means that they are mostly active during the night and are usually asleep whenever it’s the day. Being active at night also means that a lot of the physical things a hamster does to have fun is done when the sun is out. This includes using its hamster wheel.
Hamster wheels are invaluable for hamsters because it is their only source of fun and activity whenever they are kept in their habitats. They mostly run on their hamster wheel at night and may even reach up to five miles at night. At one point, a hamster was able to complete 26 miles on the hamster wheel in five days while most people can’t even go five miles of running in five days. Just goes to show how important the hamster wheel is for your hamster.
So, if you were to take away the hamster’s wheel at night just because you think it was making so much noise, you are basically taking away its only source of fun and activity. This can be borderline cruel on your part because you are basically going to leave your hamster without anything to do whenever it is at its most active. On top of that, your hamster may actually end up with health concerns precisely because of its inactivity.
As such, it is not advisable for you to remove the hamster’s wheel at night because it is the only way for it to stay active and happy while also giving it a way to lose those extra calories. Instead, what you need to do on your part is to find alternatives that you can do so that you can sleep better at night if you find the hamster wheel noisy.
How long can a hamster go without a wheel?
While it is not advisable for you to take away your hamster wheel at night, there are some instances where the hamster won’t be able to use its wheel. This can happen if it outgrew its old wheel or if the wheel is broken. In such cases, it might take a while for you to replace its old wheel especially if you ordered it online or if there are no nearby stores selling hamster wheels.
So, theoretically speaking, how long can a hamster go without a wheel? Well, for starters, hamsters can live and survive without a wheel but they might get bored. If it’s only a few days, your hamster will be perfectly fine without a wheel especially if you are going to eventually replace its old wheel.
However, if you keep it without a wheel for weeks, then that would be concerning because of how the hamster might end up gaining a lot of weight or even develop bad habits due to how it was inactive for quite some time.
That’s why you shouldn’t ever allow your hamster to go without a wheel for a long time. But a few days without a wheel will be fine especially if you are just waiting for the new wheel to arrive.
How to keep your hamster quiet at night
So, if you feel like your hamster is a bit too noisy during the night while it is playing with its hamster wheel, there are some alternatives that you can take. There will be some people who would suggest that you try to make your hamster diurnal and change its habits so that it would sleep at night but that would be tampering with its natural habit. Instead, try respecting your hamster’s nocturnal nature and use these alternatives instead:
1. Change the hamster’s cage to a location far away from your bed
If you are keeping your hamster’s cage in your bedroom, try to change its location and place it in a room where you won’t be able to hear what your hamster is doing at night. For those who are living in small studio apartments, try keeping the hamster’s cage in a corner that’s far away from your bed. That way, you could sleep better at night without getting bothered by what the hamster is doing with its hamster wheel.
2. Soundproof the hamster’s cage
If you can’t relocate the hamster’s cage to a room or a location that’s far away from where you are sleeping due to certain reasons, then a good alternative that you can do is to soundproof the hamster’s cage by insulating it. Insulating the cage by covering some of the open spaces will allow the sound to get trapped inside the cage so that all the noise that the hamster is doing while using its wheel won’t end up bothering you. A thick blanket would be enough to insulate the hamster’s cage but make sure that you only do so during the night when you are about to sleep and the hamster is wide awake and active.
3. Lubricate the wheel
Because the hamster wheel is a spinning object with many different moving parts, the squeaking noises it is making may be due in large part to how some of the parts aren’t moving so wheel. As such, one way for you to make the hamster wheel a bit quieter is by lubricating it so that it will run smoother than before.
4. Give your hamster a larger and enclosed place to live in
Most hamster cages are designed to be quite open, and that is why it is easy for the sound of the hamster wheel to escape. But if you want to keep the noise inside the hamster’s habitat, you may want to replace its old home with a newer and enclosed housing unit that only has a few openings to let air in. A good aquarium might be nice. That way, the noise gets trapped inside the hamster’s home and the noise that the wheel makes is minimized and kept inside the habitat.
5. Buy a new and quieter hamster wheel
Believe it or not, there are some instances where the hamster wheel you chose was the reason why your pocket friend is making so much noise at night. In such a case, the best thing you can do is to buy a new and quieter hamster wheel that won’t make a ton of noise even when your hamster running five miles a night on it.
Best silent spinner hamster wheel
If you are in the market for a silent spinner hamster wheel, here are our choices.
1. Suncoast Sugar Gliders Wodent Wheel – Best Overall
The Suncoast Sugar Gliders Wodent Wheel is one of the best silent hamster wheels you can get on the market and is actually our top choice for the best overall silent hamster wheel that money can buy. The reason is that it comes with a closed design that keeps the sound inside the wheel. Meanwhile, the build quality of this product is so amazing that it will surely last for a very long time. You can check out the Suncoast Sugar Gliders Wodent Wheel on Amazon here.
2. Kaytee Silent Spinner Exercise Wheel – Best for the Price
Our favorite budget choice when it comes to silent hamster wheels is the Kaytee Silent Spinner Exercise Wheel, which promises to be a lot cheaper than most of the other hamster wheels the market has to offer without compromising on how silent it is. It was specifically designed to be very silent because there aren’t a lot of moving parts that would make so much noise. So, if you want to get your hands on this product, here is its page on Amazon.