exercise ball problem

Question
whenever i put my teddy bear hamster in his ball he just sits there and does nothign btu when i take him out he starts so run around. also when eh is in his ball he seems that the first thing taht he does in there is pee. what is wrong?

Answer
Dear Kely,
thank you for your question.
I'm no friend of exercise balls. Hamsters rely on their sense of smell, hearing and touch to find their way around, they see very little. But inside a ball, all they can touch and smell is the ball and all sounds are distorted by the ball. They run around because they are trying to find a way out (exercise balls that the hamster can access and leave at wil are fine, but not the closed ones). The reason why they will climb into the ball again is that hamsters will explore anything that looks like a cave, it's just their instinct.

I recommend building a play pen: take some OSB panels or other cheap wood and connect them with duct tape. That way, the panels can be folded when not used. Or you make a room hamster safe and let them hamster run aorund in there. That's a much better way to give him exercise and you can give him things to explore like cardboard boxes, old shoes, towels ect.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer