Got to say that most of my gerbils love the wheel. I haven't tried it with the hamsters yet. Our problem is that we have only one wheel for 2 hamsters and five gerbils to share.
Here's a question for you gerbil/hamster owners. Will those little cars with wheels in them work alright on the floor without the hamtrac? My kids want the hamtrack & cars for Christmas, but my husband says the hamtrack is overdoing it, so he wants me to return it to the store. I don't want the kids to be disappointed on Christmas morning if the cars don't work w/o it, though. Will the cars work well on the hard floor? Also, is the new space vehicle on wheels better on the floor than the cars? The kids have balls for the gerbils & hamsters to roll around in, but they like the idea of watching them drive around in cars. So far, all of the rest of our pets are doing fine. We have Sue & Nippy (our original gerbils & parents), Scratchy (from the first litter), Cinnamon & Speedy from the second litter. And I hear Scratchy's sisters, who moved to another home, are doing fine, too. Our new hamsters - Minnie & Teddy (light tan Teddy Bear hamsters with blue ears) - are doing well, too, and I'm slowly making progress helping Minnie get less skittish. I think Minnie's middle name should be "peanut" since she loves peanuts so much. At the suggestion of a friend from this board, I helped Minnie adjust to coming out of her aquarium, by lifting her up in a tube so she wasn't so territorial. One out of the aquarium, it takes her awhile to come out of the tube (and sometimes she scoots out butt first! LOL), but then I'm able to catch her and pick her up to stroke her ears. She sure seems to move faster than the gerbils, though (although Teddy just strolls along at her leisure), so I have to be very careful. My daughter has tried to hold her, but Shannon is still scared of being bitten. Minnie bit me this a.m., but I forgave her. Perhaps she wasn't yet fully awake. My daughter, Shannon, has a 101.9 degree fever tonight. I think I read on here that she can give her virus to the pets so she shouldn't handle them while she's sick. Is this right? -Jean
