I have a hamster that I brought from P@H about 18 months ago, a little boy called Zeus. He is in a pennine cage (that was advertised as a rat cage!!). I keep him on a mixture of sawdust and carefresh, clean him out once a week and feed him on hamster mix from the local pet shop and fresh fruit, veg and nuts. In his cage he has a house to sleep in (in which i put the snoozey stuff you can buy), a few toys (cardboard tubes, wooden blocks ect) and a wheel.

Thing is he never uses his wheel. I have him out free-ranging in my room for at least an hour a day so he gets exercise but I don't understand why he won't use his wheel ! Is this a bad thing and if so how can I introduce it to him ?

Also another question. What is the life span of a hamster ? Someone told me it was about a year and a half but he's now that and he doesn't seem to be slowing down, thank god, I love him so much ! He's like a cuddly little teddy bear !

Thanks for any help. Oh and by the way he is a syrian.

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