| | |  | Hamster & Gerbil | Home » » » Super Pet 7-Inch Run-About Ball, Clear | | | | | | | Description: | | Run-about balls provide pets and pet owners with interactive fun during playtime. Sized perfectly for hamsters and gerbils, the clear run-about ball provides the perfect outlet for your pet's excess energy. Run-about balls also make a great temporary area to keep your furry friend while you are cleaning their cage. For added safety, use your run-about ball on super pet's hamtrac raceway and provide your pet with a controlled exercise environment. | | | Features: | |
• Clear ball provides interactive fun for you and your pet
• Ideal for hamsters, gerbils, mice, or other small animals
• Accessory item for Super Pet Run-About Hamtrac
• Also great for holding your pet while cleaning his home
• 7 inches in diameter
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 7.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 7.0 inches | | Product Height:
| 7.0 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.6 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.5 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 6.7 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.1 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 55 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 55 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 34 found the following review helpful:
7" too small for rats, but 11" is Wonderful fun! Cheaply madeApr 21, 2009
By dreamer7777
We were warned not to put rats in a rat ball because it could hurt their spine, after research we found that this is only a problem if the ball is not large enough.Our sweet rat "Princess" is full of energy and likes to run, and we feared losing her. She comes when called, however, if she climbs up inside the couch, we cannot reach her, and she will gorge herself on the crumbs that the vacuum cannot reach. She will not come while eating the crumbs and we feared eating this junk food would make her sick or worse.
We got a large rat ball (size "Giant" about 11 inches in diameter). Princess is full grown but on the small side and this ball almost seemed too large for her, but turns out to be the perfect size.
Princess LOVES her rat ball; she will beg to go into it! We keep it next to her cage, and when we pick her up, she tries to wiggle toward her ball. She is a smart rat and she has learned her way around our house. She rarely crashes, but she will slowly bump into things that she is trying to get a closer look at.
She has routines that she likes to follow, first she goes around the whole house several time, checking her boundaries. We bunch a couple of rugs up to prevent her from going into the bedrooms--and if we forget to put those out, she will beeline to the new space since she loves exploring.
If we slip a thin piece of ham or cheese or apple through the ball air slits, no matter where she is in the house, she will carry the treat to the kitchen and go under the dinner table where she sits to eat. When she is done eating she goes back to her rounds.
One of the amazing things she does, is whenever she has to go potty, she will actually go down the hall into our guest bathroom (which has no windows and is dark), where she will go number one and number two. Obviously if she starts to roll, she will get dirty, but she DOES NOT ROLL! She stays in that bathroom, in a dark corner; until we notice. Then we take her out, wash the ball and put her back in. Then she continues on her happy way.
One big warning is that even though the slits in the ball are really narrow, she can use her fingers to pull inside any soft material she finds, she has pulled inside a plastic bag (yikes!), rug fringe, and even the thick curtain (in which she gnawed a hole!). Now we keep everything off the floor and we've blocked all the curtains from her.
Princess likes to follow the dog around the house. He is a large, calm dog, but he doesn't care for this attention. Princess will follow him and if he lies down she will bump against him. He basically ignores her but occasionally he will walk away and cross the bunched carpet to lie down where she can't get to him.
The biggest problem with these rat balls is that they are sooo cheaply made! The thin plastic door holders snap off. Cracks form around the doors and grow. We have Gorilla glued this ball several times, just from gentle use (it has never been dropped).
The last two times Princess was in her ball, the cracked door popped open. So we have not put her in it in a week, and she has been mad! We can tell she wants to go in but doesn't understand why she can't.
We need to buy a new one soon. PetSmart has this size ball in Clear for $24.99. Pet Club has the same ball, but in yellow, for $19.99 but we really wanted it in Clear. I can't find the 11 inch ball on Amazon.
TIP: To help your rat have a positive experience in the ball, use food. Every single time you put your rat in the ball, give her a special treat like a slice of cheese. Soon your rat will have no fear of the ball and will see the fun of it. (of course, the rat should NEVER be pushed or spun or kicked while in the ball, otherwise she will hate it.) We reward the same way after holding her. Every single time we put her back into her cage we give her a special treat, so she looks forward to going back in.
8 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Hamster ToysJan 11, 2009
By Teryl L. Schoeberl
No Hamster alive doesnt want to roll around in this ball....it gives hours of excercise (not all at once though!) and its fun to watch the kids delight in his travels...
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Good temporary containment.Mar 28, 2009
By Noname
I use these balls about once a week for 15 minutes while I clean out the hamsters' cage. It's a great way to keep them temporarily contained. The hamsters are about 2 inches long and the ball is 7 inches, and it's a good enough size for them. The feces and urine go right through the vents, so be sure to leave this out on an area you can sweep and mop (i.e., not carpet). I also tape up the cover to make sure it doesn't accidentally fall off. Also, the children must be warned not to roll the hamsters around in them.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 My gerbils just don't like run around balls in general so...Feb 13, 2012
By fino8sherry
"fino8sherry"
I bought my gerbils when they were already adults, so perhaps they can't really get used to the run around ball. This is the second I've purchased, but for both balls they run around a bit then stop and don't move anymore. I think that maybe if a gerbil starts out running in balls from a young age, they'll learn to love the exercise, but my gerbils are perfectly content in the very large glass tank they live in and spend lots of time on their gerbil wheel. If I ever buy gerbils that are younger, hopefully they would like a run around ball, but not my current ones. There was nothing wrong with the ball, just my gerbils apparently :P
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Cheap and funMar 28, 2012
By Allen Smalling
"Constant Reader,"
This seven-inch clear plastic ball is cheap entertainment for the pet owners, and useful running exercise for the animal. We introduced ours to gerbils who were still fairly young, and after some tentative padding around, they got the hang of really scooting these balls across the floor. In the beginning, they'd (WHAM!) slam into walls or furniture, but they soon learned to pace themselves and, with the help of their (limited) vision learned to put on the brakes (SKID! SKID! SKID!) with their front paws, right at the last minute, like a Warner Bros. cartoon character braking with his heels. (I must emphasize that the animals never seemed to be dizzy, just surprised.) You really need a hard-surface floor for this, composition or hardwood or such; wall-to-wall carpet offers too much friction. A useful side attribute of these run-about balls is that you can pop your critters into them temporarily while you clean their cage or tank. Just make sure that in all situations, you lock the lid tight, and of course don't leave the animal stranded inside the ball too long -- 5 - 15 mins. is plenty.
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