Why do hamsters love to run on a wheel so much?

Question

Why do hamsters love to run on a wheel so much?

Answer 1

when they are in a cage all the time they don't get any excersize.  They run on the wheel to get excersize.

Answer 2

bored

Answer 3

OCD

oh, and the running for miles and miles every night in the wild that others have mentioned ;)

Answer 4

IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE EXERCISE IN A LITTLE CAGE...HAMSTERS ON THE WILD LIVE IN DESERTS WHICH THEY HAVE AWIDE PLACE TO RUN AND PLAY...I HAVE A ROBO AND HE LOVE TO GO THOUGH TUNNELS!!

Answer 5

sounds weird...but if you were stuck in a little glass tank all day, you might do some crazy **** too..like eat dog food, play with wood chips, and probably run on a wheel.

its exercise

Answer 6

They don't only love to run on wheels, but they need to! It's exercise! How else do you think they exercise besides being taken out of their cage?

Answer 7

Same reason why people love to ride bikes.

Excercise and fun. :)

Answer 8

The same reason you ask questions on YA.

Answer 9

In the wild, hamsters can run between 2 to 8 miles in one night. Obviously they cannot do this in a cage, so a wheel is an excellent source of exercise and entertainment for them. Hamsters are either sleeping are constantly on the move. They love running around.

Answer 10

Hamsters have alot of enegy, so they need to either have LOTS of room to run in( like what they would have in the wild) or something to make up for that, like a wheel or a ball.They also think that when they run for awhile that the area has changed, so since they are adventureous creature, they whant to explore after every little run.

Answer 11

To get exercise

Answer 12

Cuz in the wild they have to travel very far to find food.

Answer 13

I will ask my hamster for you.... O wait he its since he sleeps all day then eats at night he needs away to burn that fat off. i dont blame him i would want to do the same

Answer 14

It gives them something to do so they won't have to pay attention to their tornadic thinking.

Answer 15

because in the wild they run like up to 5km  a night!! it may b more, im not too sure but anyways, its really theyre only form of excersize, i mean the cant run very well in theyre cages, can they? most times theyre too small. also, they actually think theyve gone somewhere so it provides 'adventure' god.. i ove my hammies but sometimeds theyre soo stupid! oh well, there still a hella lot smarterthan mi cat, who rns inta wallz frequently .lol =p

Answer 16

its something they can do really fast and not bang into a wall.

Answer 17

well, hamsters run to get exercise. they are kept in small, cramped, cages and have 2 stay active to stay healthy.

Answer 18

because they know they are fat and being fat lowers their selfesteem. so they run on that d**n wheel.

Answer 19

coz they are trapped in a cage. they need to run away and the wheel is the only closest thing they have. =)

Answer 20

what else is there to do?