'wheel tail'

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ryelle

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ok, my keyboard is crappy tonight so bear with me... (i will edit this tomorrow when i fix my keyboard lol0

Muirenn is OBSESSED with the wheel in the cage. she runs all niight and doesnt stop (probably why she sleeps so much). i noticed tonight that her tail is starting to curl upwards. i have the "wobust wodent wheel" (description: Wobust Wodent Wheel (large). 12" diameter, 5.3" wide, 3.6" "mouse-hole shaped" entry holes. Overall height 13". Best for larger male rats, prairie dogs and hedgehogs) and she is only a 10 week old baby, so its not that the wheel is too small, she just runs too much.

is there anything i should do? like take the wheel away? will having a 'wheel tail' affect her health in any way? ive never had a rat this obsessive over running before
 
She will be fine.
I have had rats that ran alot, some that developed a wheelie tail although they ran in a 12 inch diameter wheel and they had long, happy lives.
 
I would think that if you took away her wheel, she would miss the activity, and would become obsessive/compulsive about something else that may not be as good for her.
 
This is a wonderful time in a young ratty's life, when they have energy to burn. I look back with nostalgia at that time when I have an aging ratty. Many of mine have been almost frantic runners, and it did them only good. My wheel-runners have not had more problems in later life than the non-runners.
 
:D thats really good to hear!
I have to cable tie the wheel to the side of the cage. Patrick LOVES the taste of cable-ties and chews through them :doh: the wheel ends up moving over to the side of the cage and the plastic wheel rubs against the plastic coating on the bars and makes this horrific screaming noise (i thought a rat was dying the first time we heard it). The rats are in the room below my bedroom and I have to get up at like 3am just to come downstairs and move the wheel away from the bars because the noise is awful and you can hear it all the way through the house.

Mu-mu is ALWAYS in the wheel. She even stays in there while you try and move it :roll: Clodagh has her fair share of running, but with Mu-mu it seems that she either sleeps or runs. I am hopin that she sticks with it, so i dont have to worry about her putting weight on lol.
 
I have rats that move their wheel. One thing you might try is to attach the wheel with a shower hook or other small metal doodad. The sound of a wheel grinding against something would definitely wake anyone at 3 am!!

My fave is to attach a Stealth Wheel or a Silent Spinner to the side of the cage. They can't remove the attachments.
 
Godmother said:
I have rats that move their wheel. One thing you might try is to attach the wheel with a shower hook or other small metal doodad. The sound of a wheel grinding against something would definitely wake anyone at 3 am!!

My fave is to attach a Stealth Wheel or a Silent Spinner to the side of the cage. They can't remove the attachments.
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I have to attach the litter tray to the cage with a shower hook or Patrick pushes it off the shelf :doh: Ill have to try attaching the wheel with one aswell.
The 'spoke' that the wheel is on fits through the bars, and i tried doing it so that the stand was upside down and the bit that would normally be on the floor rested on the top of the cage (if that makes sense), but it wouldnt go flat against the top of the cage. It was a bit of a faff on aswell.
Ill definately try the shower hook
 
I too attach my wheels, and litter boxes.
I use zipties, and in some cages I use the metal shower hooks.
My guys would move the wheel, and dump their poops EVERYWHERE!

I agree with LA, wheel tail is adorable, and i've got a few girls with it too!
 
"Wheel tail" is what we call the position that some rats hold their tails in, as if they were still on the wheel. Instead of the usual held-out-straight position, they have their tails curled up and toward their heads, the way they do when running on the wheel.

Not all of them do it. My Corrie daughters ran all night on their wheels, but never had wheely tail. My Rowan daughters all have wheelie tails much of the time.
 
My Piper runs MILES every night....and she doesn't have a wheel tail. Many of my other rats run on the wheels somewhat and none of them have wheel tails. Henry walks on the wheel a few times a week....and his tail is curled like a piggy...
 
Ah, thanks for the explanation... though I guess I'll have to get 2 wheels for for my guys as Chester's still in his own cage. Titan and Snickers really need one as they run all over their cage at night and I can barely get some sleep... -.-;;
 
Godmother said:
Not all of them do it. My Corrie daughters ran all night on their wheels, but never had wheely tail. My Rowan daughters all have wheelie tails much of the time.
Click to expand...


Clodagh runs in the wheel a lot, but her tail is fine, same with Patrick, he used to run loads and never noticed a difference. Muirenn holds her tail almost over her head sometimes and is fanatical about the wheel
 
Hi....my rat Lily did this when she was younger and I first got her, she did it constantly at night for hours and hours and she too had wheel tail. She is about a yr old now and it has slowed quite a bit, she still loves to run in it but not even half as much as she used to and her tail has straighted out some. She too is fine and healthy. :D
 
I was reading more into this with mice and such they say its no good for them as it can do permit damage to the spine i think and such so if that's true with mice would it not bee true for rats as well? Same goes for hamsters when running on a wheel for hamster their back as to be straight and not bent with the wheel.
 
lil can you link me to the article.

Mice and hamsters are such wheel nuts, wouldn't we see a whole bunch of damaged mice and hamsters?
I wonder if it's one of those things where it's a slight possibility and the benefit of running might outweigh the bad.
 

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