Is it the excercise ball?

Question
I have had my hamster for a little over a week. I just bought her an excercise ball yesterday, and I examined her today, and I noticed little bumps on her feet!! I don't know if the bumps are just the pads on her feet, or if her feet are swollen!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer
Dear Ashley,
thank you for your question.
I'm fairly sure that the hamster's feed are normal, they do have little bumps on them. I couldn't find a good picture, but you can see the underside of a hamster's foot here:
http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/peter/hamster.gif

Excercise balls are not that good for hamsters, though, in my opinion. Hamsters rely on their sense of touch, hearing and smell to find their way around a room and in a ball they can smell, touch and hear nothing but the ball. The ball s are also dangerous: hamster can get stuck in the ventilation openings, resulting in broken bones. A hamster play pen or running around in a hamster safe room is much better and far more interesting for them. You can build a play pen from OSB panels or plywood, if you use duct tape to hold the panels together, the entire play pen can be folded and just put under your bed or somewhere else when not needed.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer