OVO Club Trainer

The winners in the Habitrail Ovo line continue with this exercise wheel. It's quiet (but not silent), easy to assemble, and easy to take apart and clean. The wheel diameter is slightly larger than average which is good for Syrian hamsters like mine.The blue and white rotating wheel is actually a split design, with an intentional gap between the wheel halves. The gap allows small debris to fall out of the wheel into the external white plastic stationary gutter located under the wheel. Or you can install the included black rubber band around the rim of the wheel to seal up this gap and contain the debris in the gap at the rim of the wheel, between the two wheel halves.Like other reviewers have mentioned, this unit is heavy. I have mine such that all of the weight is resting on the stationary blue/white shell, so the wheel spins freely. The two holes allow more flexibity in positioning the unit and also allows multiple entry/exit. The locking ring helps maintain the desired position. I am using both entry/exit holes in my setup.The white plastic on the shell is somewhat soft and my hamster is already chewing on it. Time will tell how long it holds up. So far she seems to like her wheel.UPDATE May 22 2012: My older son who sleeps in the downstairs bedroom next to the office that has the hammie cage, says she uses her wheel every night. Obviously she likes the wheel, but this also means the wheel is merely quiet, not silent.

I was a bit disappointed when this arrived. The thin plastic where the white and light blue solid pieces connect is much too flimsy. The slightest bit of weight and it pulls apart. If the hamster walked inside, it would gap at the top and provide an excellent place to chew and escape - or could just snap open and fall - not good! We fixed this by snapping them apart, putting super glue inside the entire seam, and snapping them back together. Since one would typically not take these pieces apart for cleaning, it seems like a great and easy solution.We hooked this up to the cage, no problems, and our hamster was quickly over there checking it out. The first night she ran in it quite a bit. The second night she decided it was a perfect nesting place instead. The entire floor outside the cage was a mess! She had taken all of her food inside, most of which then fell through to the bottom tray, and had taken all of her fluffy bedding and packed it full. If we remove anything, she just fills it up again. Oh, she still sort of runs around in it - bedding and all - which sends the food flying (the little tray just does not hold enough) and the bedding pushes out and all over as well. She seems very happy. Me, not so much.The wheel comes with a black rubber band that you can use to seal it up BUT the chemical smell is horrible and I don't want her breathing that in. It would also eliminate any ventilation and I don't want that either. So it remains open. About four times a day I take off the little white tray and dump her food back into her cage. And we have placed a waste basket under the wheel to catch the extra. She seems to love it so much as her little nest that I just don't have the heart to remove it, and we are simply dealing with the mess for now.Prior to purchasing, I had read from another reviewed that this wheel is larger than the Ovo wheels that come inside the various cages. NOT TRUE. I was really hoping for something bigger and had made my purchase based on the review saying that it was. I was quite disappointed that it was not. This wheel is EXACTLY the same interior diameter as the others. It has an exterior lip which maybe makes it seems a bit larger, but I measured both and they are exactly the same on the interior. No extra running space in here for our girl. It is also noisier than the other Ovo wheels. With the others, if they were starting to rub, a single drop of vegetable oil made them silent. This one has a thicker stem to rotate on and is not solved with the little bit of oil trick. This thicker stem also takes up a tad more center space than on the other Ovo wheels. Then when you add in the hamster's food clicking around when she runs, it's even noisier.Bottom line - I certainly wish I had not purchased this piece, but our hamster is very glad that I did.

My hamster is in love with this thing. We didn't put it in the easiest place to get to but he found and and now goes to it IMMEDIATELY after waking up. He runs non stop for 10 minutes and then sleeps in the little covered area for 10 and then goes back to running.I bought the wheel because the cheap one that came with his cage was so loud that I could not sleep. This one is practically silent.The little "accident catcher" is ingenious and works exactly as it should leaving no mess inside the wheel.This is what all of the bad reviews revolve around. There is a sizable gap running around the middle. This is so the mess can leave the ball. Mark my words. There is no way that your hamster is going to fit through that hole. He will not trip. He cannot get out. To be fair, I do not have a dwarf hamster. But I have seen them and they wouldn't fit through that hole either. If you watch a hamster run, they spread their legs so the hole gap really doesn't matter and it keeps the wheel pretty clean.It's safe. It's stable. It's quiet. Your hamster, as well as you, will love this wheel.