# Musical hamster wheel



## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

I've sen some things in my time but this one from Pets at Home has to be the most ridiculous and unsuitable for a while.

It's there own label, a xmas gift for hamsters at £9.99. The pet gets on and this awful atempt at Jingle Bells shouts at the hamster until it runs it's sequence of racket. Sounds more like a bad bell ringing session than a gentle xmas song. It's a stupid cheaply made product that most Syrians wouldn't even fit in, could frighten and harm a hamster's well being and apart from that, when is it ever safe to put a product with batteries in with a gnawing rodent??!! And aside fom the welfare issues, who wants to listen to that when the hamster's running around all night?! 

I've notified Trading Standards but the product has been CE passed as safe so there's not a lot more i can do. How many hamsters are going to be subjected to this horrendous thing?!

Any ideas people?


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## CheekoAndCo (Jun 17, 2009)

I saw this and it's tiny. Wheels are bad enough without playing music


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

I just don't know how they are getting away with it


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Someone on another forum posted that their hamster managed to get into the battery compartment, things could have been very very bad if she had chewed a battery.


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## CheekoAndCo (Jun 17, 2009)

Does it say gerbils can use it? You know what they are like for chewing plastic.


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

I'll check the packaging. I bought one to demonstrate at work what not to use!! it's at work though. 

There are so many risks with this product ! so many and so risky i believe it should be not only withdrawn, but recalled.

I spoke to the manager of my local store who hadn't yet seen it and went to try it. over the phone i heard the awful chiming music and she said oh gosh. It's not very good is it?! Yet it's still on sale. Head office have control not her. Having something pointed out should have been enough as this is Pets at Home who put the welfare of animals before profit don't forget :lol:

My current favourite phrase is very apt here! but i won't repeat it


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

thedogsmother said:


> Someone on another forum posted that their hamster managed to get into the battery compartment, things could have been very very bad if she had chewed a battery.


This hamster owner might like to inform Pets at Home of the near catastrophe.


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

squeaker said:


> This hamster owner might like to inform Pets at Home of the near catastrophe.


They have been in contact (not succesfully) with the manufacturer.


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

Glad to hear they have at least tried.

Pets at Home escape responsibility for this one as someone else has produced it for them. Convenient. But they are still happy to sell this crap.

You know, sometimes i think things are moving forward, albeit slowly, but forward nonetheless.... and then something like this knocks the sense back into me. In reality, profit comes very much before welfare far too often.

I do tackle issues when i come across them. A least then i've done my bit.. what i can do to help change things. 

"We can't change the world on our own in one attempt, but if everyone has one attempt it may happen slowly"

Hamster rock, musical wheels do not


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## srhdufe (Feb 11, 2009)

Maybe hamsters want to listen to christmas music. Has anyone actually asked them if they want to???


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## niki87 (Nov 18, 2009)

srhdufe said:


> Maybe hamsters want to listen to christmas music. Has anyone actually asked them if they want to???


Hehe was going to say I am sure someone had started a thread about these a while ago...someone who was amused by them


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

lol. It is so funny it is funny! I'll ask my hamster... oh wait a minute i did... i put it in with her and she pick it up with her teeth and threw it :lol:

Call it research. She went straight for the batteries...


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

LEts face it, not many pet manufacturers are very up in terms of what is suitable for rodents. Cotton wool style bedding springs to mind, and lets not forget the great silent spinners - the small ones for mice I would only use for a pet flea, the medium are the ones they should be recommending. Although I will be honest - I did buy the SAM light up wheel for Mustard :blushing: The wheel is a really good size and he only got the light up part when I was there to watch him - he would run in his wheel then jump out to watch the lights :lol:


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## srhdufe (Feb 11, 2009)

zany_toon said:


> he would run in his wheel then jump out to watch the lights :lol:


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

ahem!!! why are you not on msn young lady??? tut tut!!


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## Lady Sol (Aug 20, 2009)

> lets not forget the great silent spinners - the small ones for mice I would only use for a pet flea, the medium are the ones they should be recommending.


My robos seem fine with smalls, think some of my syrians wouldn't fit in one, let alone be able to move.


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

Lady Sol said:


> My robos seem fine with smalls, think some of my syrians wouldn't fit in one, let alone be able to move.


I think they would be okay for dwarf hammies as you suggest - but not for a mouse unless it is a baby. Full grown ones can develop curvature of the spine and tail if their wheel is too small which can lead to a lot of problems.


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

Interestingly, settig aside the lights and the music, lol.... there has actually been a study carried out on Syrians and which size wheel they prefer to run on.

They were offered a 6 inch and 12 inch wheel. Result = 12 inch was preferred. I can only assume it was more comfortable for them to run in a more 'straight' position? 

It's an interesting one. I couldn't fit a 12 inch wheel in my hamsters' cages the way they are put together but i may consider this. Yes, they run on the 6 inch spinners but they still bend the wrong way however subtle it is. 

Mmmmm..... I feel a hamster emporium being built in the near future. My excuse... i want a straight hamster ! :lol:


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

I would remove the wheels rather than risk injury to the hamters, it isnt just that they might be a bit uncomfortable, they can get curvature of the spine and judging how long my lot spend in their wheels it could easily happen. You can get an 8 inch wheel which sould be much better, can you fit an 8inch one in the cages? All mine have the wodent wheels and I would highly reccomend those, mine have the senior ones but I think the junior ones are 8inches.


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## CheekoAndCo (Jun 17, 2009)

None of these in the PAH here today! Didn't even have any signs up for the price etc with them. Wonder if someone has listened?


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

ROCKIN! Sounds like a good result.

I am building my hamsters luxury pads that will house 3ft foot wheels lol !

Hamster party :lol:


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## Emz (Oct 28, 2009)

I was in [email protected] 2 days ago and didn't see these in Preston.


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

Sounds promising. At one point it was the best online seller as well. I'm off to my local store to see if they still have them.

hopefully they have been removed from sale. Honestly!


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## CheekoAndCo (Jun 17, 2009)

Christmas Musical Hamster Wheel by Pets at Home | Pets at Home sell-_-product details

Seems they are trying to sell them off!


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

Oh yeah, they are £5 in my local store now too! 

While i was in there i got really peed off cos i've told them 3 seperate times now when things have bothered me. All within 4 weeks. once the water bottles were all algae inside and minging. once a guinea pig had weeping eyes and once there was a guinea pig blood bath with ripped ears, holes in backs and blood up the walls. These things were attended to of course and i was reasonably satisfied with how it was handled.

Today on my xmas wheel mission, there's a bearded dragon with no water, shite in it's feed bowl with crusty old cabbage or something from what looks like yesterday's feed, the plastic loop which holds the price tag on a plastic plant just waiting for lizard to be tangled up in it and a very swollen eye.

This time it was an RSPCA job i'm sad to say. I've had enough of this place. If they can't care for their livestock they shouldn't be selling it. 

 

My tolerance has been tested today.


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

Where pets come first !!!!


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## CheekoAndCo (Jun 17, 2009)

I know it's awful how the animals are kept. There was atleast 16 guinea pigs per cage yesterday in the new one. I was standing next to them making noises and they were talking away asif 'attention!!'. Yes I'm crazy lol  But the animals are right next to the front door. Don't bother thinking about the fact it's freezing and the doors open and shut all day 

I noticed in the fish tanks that the stuff still has price tags in. I thought myself surely that's a disaster waiting to happen. Surely they don't sell the stuff again!? 

Problems would be solved if they took on people who knew what they were talking about. Friend applied for a job and got turned down for having too much experiance. She wrote about how she is one of the trainers at obediance etc so she got a nope!


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

I'm never surprised at them, just fail to understand because they do extensive training. something is not working well. I've bought guinea pigs before and they've gone through the health check like a robot but failed to see what they should be seeing. Their noses were dripping with snot. But they had the health check so we're all good! lol! Putting theory into practice is probably where there's an issue in that case. Strangely, she was training someone in how to sell at the time. There's not much hope there eh?

I did follow it up by the way. Call it research


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## CheekoAndCo (Jun 17, 2009)

When I got one of mine from there she turns him on his back to look at his stomach and said 'he's healthy'. So I said I'd rather do it myself and she got very defensive. 

Complained once because they didn't have any hay but got told they aren't allowed to give them it because it stops customers from seeing them  

Maybe I should fill in an application form and be like 'I've never owned an animal in my life' then turn up and put them all right


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## squeaker (Nov 29, 2010)

:lol:

I can understand that attitude really. From a business point of view they want fresh meat who they can train to their standard. They don't want experts with an opinion i'm sure.

You know they trialled rabit vaccination aftr i highlighted the issue nationally and withdrew it because they didn't sell enough rabbits? but somehow they believe that those same purchasers who wont pay what was an extra £5 for a vaccinated rabbit, will buy one for £5 cheaper unvaccinated and get it done themselves. Yeah right!! 

They have admitted there that they don't vaccinate because they can't sell them not because it's not necessary. If it wasn't necessary, they wouldn't have trialled it. You see they've had it pointed out that the licence conditions stipulate all animals must receive inocculations appropriate to their species. Vaccination is vital if you are a purchaser but you can choose to or not if you are a retailer and not selling enough??!! What a load of old poop !


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