Bunny Exercise Ball?

[Lbolar]

LOL! very funny

 

[alfie and angel]

I don't know if this is even true but i supose it could be:

But I heard that even for some walking animals, those exercise ballsare actually a frightening experience. Prey animals like rodents[lagamorphs too I suppose] are reluctant to go anywhere that they don'thave at least 2 ways out which is why, when you give many animals acardboard box etc, they will chew a hole in the back corner so thatthey have an 'emergency exit'. I guess it's an instinct thing - frombeing in burrows, warrens etc in case a predator gets into the burrow.

If this is the case, then the exercise ball is a stressful experienceand it could be that they are not exercising they are merely trying toescape but the ball perpetually turns until we let them out - I wasconsidering getting one for my chinchillas until I read this.

Having said this, they are widely accepted for hamsters etc.....andmany people say that they 'offer' the ball at the cage door and thehamster, gerbil or whatever just jumps in so I guess they must like it

 

[nose_twitch]

This is a very interesting thread. Iused to have a hamster who would walk right into the ball, and I wouldlet him run around. But then I got to thinking...what if hehates it? He's just running around, and how do I know thatit's out of enjoyment and not complete fear?

I'm wondering...are hamsters and other rodents smart enough, if theyhate the exercize ball, to not voluntarily go in it the nexttime? It seems that they would just forget and do itagain. I ended up just letting my hamster get his exercise onthe wheel in his cage. At least I could tell he enjoyed that.

 

[alfie and angel]

I don't know but I had a hamsterwhoonce climbed up the bars of the cage and then swung like amonkeyacross the top until he was right in the middle. Oncehe was there he didn't seem to be able to go any further soheto just hang there untilwe rescued him - I remeber laughingand saying, 'He won't do that again!' Hmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

That night I was woken up by aloud crash as he plummetted tothe floor of the cage - we had toget him a new house but inthe two days it took to do this he just kept ondoingit.

What must have been going on in that little head when, despite anagging sense of de-ja-vu, he thought, 'I know, I know...I'lljust shimmy up here, straight across the top and...oh darn!'

So I dunno if theywould learn not to do something again.However, there is always the possibility that I had an exceptionallystupidhammy....

 

[naturestee]

My last hamster loved his ball. If Ididn't have him out long enough, he'd fuss about leaving it to go backin his cage. He was a biter, so I'd pick him up by offeringhis ball, and then pick him up in the ball. He liked to gofrom carpet to linoleum, where he would stop quickly and let the ballrock and slide. He did that on a game board that I had put onthe floor, too. He spent a good half hour going back andforth over that in the ball!

I do remember that some of my childhood hammies didn't like the ball. It just depends on their personality.

 

[lionheadmomma]

That's TOOO funny! Thanks for the laugh.

 

[LuvaBun]

I haven't seen the balls but my rabbits have'invented' their own. We got a collapsible pet house from thepound shop (dollar store) so we could put their hay basket in there andthinking they could lay in there if they wanted to. They had otherideas... it is made of a kind of PVC material and has a frame aroundit. Perry discovered that if he walked up the side, it rolled over, andhe loved it. He went the full length of the living room, with the hayflying all over the place.

Now they have discovered what they can do, they often go in 'for aroll'. It has a door opening so they can get out when they want to. Itwas probably the best pound we ever spent .

The picture isn't very clear, but this is it.

Jan

 

[naturestee]

OMG that's too funny!