Do rats need wheels to run on their cages if they have levels and time outside cage?
Not necessarily. Put it in, if the rat shows no interest then take it out so it has extra room. I did have one rat who would run about 8 hours a night on the dam thing. My husband was up one night doing work and after two hours straight of the rat running on the wheel he was wondering if it was going to ever stop. If I ever woke up in the night, I would hear the wheel running. Her sister never touched. Interestingly enough, the runner was skinny and the non runner was fat. GO FIGURE.
i have 2 rats i have a wheel for them but i take it out every night because rats are very smart and i found if you keep it in the cage they will try to escape and mine have a few times all by using the wheel so do they need a wheel no not if they get a lot of outside time or if they run around in the cage a lot if they get neither then it would be ideal to get one to ensure a healthy life
They don't need wheels many rats aren't interested in them. Until we adopted our hairless 2.5 years ago, I'd *never* lived with a rat who used an exercise wheel would remove the wheels to make more space in the cage. Now, all 6 of our rats enjoy running in their wheels although the 2 boys only do this on occasion prefer using it as an alternate nap area. The hairless girl has actually *taught* our other does to use their wheel. Wire wheels can be dangerous so they should be removed. Good, safe wheels include Silent Spinners Wodent Wheels.
