Are hamster balls cruel?
A hamster ball is a very good way of allowing your hamster to exercise in a area that may have holes or gaps which you do not want him to disappear down. You should start off by putting the hamster in the ball for just 10 minutes and then put him back into the cage. This way he should learn that the ball is just temporary and he can wait until he is back in the cage before going to the toilet. You can expand the length of time that he stays in the ball for as long as he is happy. But if you leave it too long he might curl up and go to sleep, or go to the toilet, or just keep bumping into your feet until you let him out. The maximum time that a hamster will normally spend in a ball is 30 minutes when they are at their most active as hamster like to have short rests in their cages. Some hamsters do not like being in a ball. In this case it is cruel to put them in the ball. You can tell they do not like it because they will not run anywhere and might try to dig out of the bottom.
