Product Reviews - Silent Spinner Exercise Wheel
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Review 1 of 15
Place Purchased: Petsmart
Price: $6.99 for small wheel $8.99 for medium wheel (US) - aprox £3.74 & £4.81
Score: 5/10
These wheels are nice, smooth, and quiet at first but after having them for about a month, they get really noisy. The plastic parts of the wheel that snap together make an awful rattling sound and eventually they start to squeak. These wheels are impossible to oil because you have to be really careful about taking the bearing housing apart, it is very fragile and it breaks easily. I have tried about 3 of these wheels and have had the same problem with all of them.
Reviewer: Dreamstar380
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Review 2 of 15
Place Purchased: PAH
Price: £7.99
Score: 9/10
Ever heard of Ronseal? Well this is what I think about this wheel, it does exactly what it says on the tin - it’s silent when spinning and when cleaned properly it will stay silent. My mice love it and love when they stop and the wheel keeps spinning. There are one or two bads points to it, such as the small cap in the middle all the way around, which little meeces feet could possibly get trapped in, and this allows little boys wee to get all over both sides of the wheel, which can be annoying to clean lol. Also if your mouse puts food in it and runs on it, then leaves it, the wheel will keep rocking for absolutely ages with the food rattling in it, and can be annoying too. Still, if you want a wheel that’s silent and doesn’t squeak and which your mice love get one of these!
Reviewer: Ruth
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Review 3 of 15
Place Purchased: Got it with some of my mice
Price: N/A
Score: 9/10
I have a medium sized one (the smallest is only fit for dwarf hamsters) and the mice love it! It either clips onto the bars, or stands seperately. Many people seem to have troubles with the stand, but as I haven’t, even in a barred cage I keep it on the stand. It runs very smoothly, however sometimes after taking it apart to wash it can rattle. In my experience this means you haven’t put the clips together in the best way possible, so I unclip and rotate one side to try the next pairing. Doing this seems to stop the two parts rattling together - why it couldn’t have been made in one colour I’ve no idea! The only problem I have with it is the grips on it combined with the lip - makes removing poos very hard. The lip also stops poos done in the wheel from falling out (like in other wheels) so I have to take it out and wipe every day, rather than less frequently (annoying as it doesn’t fit thrwough the doors). Because of this, the wheel has now been restricted to being part of their out-of-cage amusements. I’ve not had mine long, so I hope the ball bearing stands up to time, but if it dies I’ll certainly be getting another.
Reviewer: Acapae
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Review 4 of 15
Place Purchased: Alpine Pet Shop, Plymouth
Price: £5.49 (medium)
Score: 9/10
A wheel can be an effective way of providing exercise and environmental enrichment within the cage or tank, as such I decided it was essential to get one for my girls. I have had the silent spinner for a week so I am unable to comment on its longevity, however I am satified that it is indeed silent! I found it hard to find a wheel that didn’t have wire or mesh with holes big enough to trap tiny mice feet, although the silent spinner does have a small gap where to two segments join. I think the silent spinner is an attractive addition to my girl’s tank It seems to be available in a few colours I got the pink and white one. As I have a tank I needed a wheel which had a stand, it can also be fitted to a cage.
My girls didn’t have a wheel where they were bred so unfortunately they don’t seem to have a clue what to do with it. I’ve only seen one of the four actually have a proper run in it, otherwise they tend to pile bedding up in it. They do enjoy trying to climb up it though.
Overall the wheel is made of nice thick plastic, with nice colours and apparently ‘unique silent spinning action’ which will help mice owners sleep. It does seem to be well made and good quality, I am happy with the price I paid and would definitely buy another should I need to.
The only real negative is that there is a gap between the two segments of plastic which make up the wheel, which means there is potential for injury to the mice.
Reviewer: Ian
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Review 5 of 15
Place Purchased: Pet Shop
Price: -
Score: 9/10
These wheels are silent and solid so safe most pets seem to like them.
They are easy to clean and brightly coloured.
Reviewer: Tagalong
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Review 6 of 15
Place Purchased: Pets at home
Price: £7.99
Score: 8/10
It actually is silent which is wonderful when your trying to watch TV, however, I think we were a bit ripped off on the price as the RRP was £5.99. I have found it to be great with mice who are used to a wheel but its a bit too fast for baby or inexperienced mice, they kept flying off it as it was far too fast for them and they couldn’t stop! But my older boys loved it.
Only down side that I found was that ours broke after a few months of use, the attachment of the wheel to the stand snapped (the mice appeared to bounce when they ran on it so I can only think the the attachment wasn’t sturdy enough).
Reviewer: Chris10
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Review 7 of 15
Place Purchased: Bought from Ebay and Pets at Home
Price: approx £6-7
Score: 10/10
I love these wheels and wouldn’t use any others. We have them (in different sizes) for our rats and dwarf hamsters so of course our mice have a couple as well.
Ok so they may not be completely silent, but we all have experienced the average wheels, like the ones that frequently come in cages, that squeak or click or thud as they roll around. These don’t. You can hear them spinning around but they are smooth and so quiet.
The regular spinners are the ideal size for mice and they can build up quite some speed on them. They are safe as they don’t have spokes to trap tails and they have ridges to give grip. They are easy to clean with a spray and a cloth and they last for ages.
You can choose how to mount your wheel. They come on a stand which works well if you are placing the wheel in bedding. Or you can detach the stand and connect the wheel through your cage bars. Or you can leave the stand on and attach it to the bars for extra stability.
Highly recommended.
Reviewer: Daffee
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Review 8 of 15
Place Purchased: Pets at home
Price: £7.99
Score: 10/10
I have 2 of these wheels in use for my girls and they love them. They spend most of their time on them and with them actually being silent is a gods send to me. I never actually hear them on them unless there is a piece of food in there rattling away lol.
Reviewer: Mousemommy
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Review 9 of 15
Place Purchased: Surrey Pet Supplies (who no longer stock this item)
Price: About £4.50 when I bought it, you can’t get it for much cheaper than £5.50 these days
Score: 8/10
Pros:
The Silent Spinner is not without its problems (as I will detail below), but once those problems are addressed, it becomes a fantastic wheel.
The rim of the wheel has a slight curve to it, so even if the wheel tilts a bit under the weight of a mouse running in it, the mouse will still have a secure surface to run on that doesn’t slope outwards. This is not the case for wheels with flat rims (like the Savic Rolly); when a mouse gets into one of those wheels, it tilts slightly, which means the running surface slopes downwards, leading to mice falling out until they get used to the sloping surface.
The Silent Spinner also attaches very securely to the side of my Freddy 2, and once attached doesn’t move around very much at all, unlike my Savic Rolly which tilts and wobbles and rattles against the side of the cage. The Silent Spinner also uses ball bearings in the axle, which greatly reduce friction and make it the fastest wheel I’ve seen - so fast, in fact, that the entire cage vibrates when my spiny mice start galloping in theirs! The ball bearings also reduce the noise, and although the wheel is not entirely silent, it’s still noticeably quieter than the Rolly.
Also, it’s available in 4 different colours (red, green, blue, and purple) so colour coordinators such as myself should be able to find something to suit their tastes.
Cons:
The wheel part of the Silent Spinner is made of two plastic halves - one red, green, blue, or purple; the other white - which clip together, and this is the source of at least two problems. It’s particularly frustrating because the wheel doesn’t have to be manufactured this way, and I see no benefit in having the wheel made of two pieces - except to provide a narrow gap in between them in which poo can get trapped, which is one of the problems.
The other problem is that the two halves of the wheel don’t always fit absolutely snugly together - and I hear this is not uncommon - so the they rattle against each other whenever the wheel turns. In my case, the rattling was unbearably loud whenever the wheel was going at speed, significantly louder than any other wheel I’ve experienced, and I thought it ironic that the wheel was called the Silent Spinner when it was completely the opposite. No particular orientation of the two halves rattled any less than the others, so I solved this problem permanently by supergluing the two halves of my wheel together at the clips. I don’t think that anyone should have to resort to superglue to fix a totally unnecessary design fault, especially as superglue is toxic - I was only comfortable using it once I could see a way to glue the clips together so that none of the glue would be accessible to the spiny mice. This issue would have dropped the Silent Spinner’s rating significantly if it weren’t for the fact that, once fixed, it performed exceptionally well.
Overall:
I am rather dismayed that an otherwise excellent product has been made with such a glaring and unnecessary design fault, but since its problems are relatively easy to fix, I am on the whole very happy with the Silent Spinner and would recommend it to everyone as a safe, comfortable, fast, and relatively quiet way to give their mice some exercise - provided they have a tube of superglue handy.
Reviewer: Cub
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Review 10 of 15
Place Purchased: Ebay
Price: £3.49
Score: 9/10
I got one of these wheels as my mice reside in my bedroom and even I, the heaviest of sleepers, was being kept awake by their other squeaky wheel. I would say a wheel is a definite must for mice as they seem to get so much pleasure and obvious exercise from them. Mine spend hours on theirs.
Pros:
Totally does what it says on the tin! Mine is completely silent, save for the pitter-patter of weeny mousie feet as they trundle along (so sweet!). They’re also completely enclosed with no holes or sharp edges for mousies to catch themselves in mid-sprint. I would recommend the medium sized one or larger for fancy mice as anything smaller would be too cramped.
Another pro is there is the option of both attaching it to the side of a wire cage or having it free-standing if no wire is available. Mine is free standing as I think that makes the most of the ’silence’. If I attach it to the wire sometimes the vibrations of the rotations are too loud and quite eery…
Cons:
Not many! It can be pricey if bought from a pet store, Ive seen them as much as £8.50. I would say eBay was the best place to pick one up, however any price is a small price to pay in my opinion for your mousies enjoyment and a good nights sleep.
They can also lose their ’silence’ when they’re washed as the ball-bearing responsible for the silence can get squeaky. Some olive or vegetable oil can sort this out no problem though and this is harmless to mousies!
Reviewer: *Fairysara*
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Review 11 of 15
Place Purchased: Pets at home
Price: £6.99 for medium
Score: 8/10
This wheel is great for mice! It’s easy to clean and safe for little mousey feet. It is available in a range of vibrant colours to match your cage. It also comes in 3 sizes, although the smallest is only suitable for young mice and most importantly it is silent! However it isn’t as durable as I’d like. My multimammate male Spyro goes through several of these in no time. I don’t think it can take his weight and as a result it rattles no end. So for fancy mice, it is the best wheel on the market but for larger mice, it can be a waste of money.
Reviewer: Lau200
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Review 12 of 15
Place Purchased: Pet Supplies Plus
Price: $7
Score: 9/10
I got this wheel for my mice about a year or two ago. It’s a fine product and does exactly what it says, stays silent. However even with frequent cleaning the wheel has become a bit slow and now needs more pressure to get it started, which my two year old mice can hardly do anymore.
The good points:
–It does indeed stay silent.
–There are a couple of colors to choose from to match your cage.
–They go for a halfway decent price.
The bad point:
–It doesn’t last for very long.
Reviewer: Addictinganimal
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Review 13 of 15
Place Purchased: Uk pet supplies
Price: £5.99
Score: 8/10
My girls really love their wheels and this is one of their favourites. I have to keep mine on the stand though because the bar spacing on my cage is very small so although it will fit through to attach to the cage, it stretches the bars too much leaving a big gap. The wheel is very quiet too! Obviously if you are right next to it you can hear it very faintly but it really is very quiet! The wheel is slightly smaller than usually recommended for mice though so I always make sure there is another wheel in their cage as well as this one.
Reviewer: Princesspetal
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Review 14 of 15
Place Purchased: Pets at Home
Price: £5.99
Score: 9/10
I bought this because my mouse is in my bedroom and I needed something quiet so my mouse can have his exercise and can still sleep. This does the job, it’s easy to clean and can either be used on the stand or attached to the bars. The only time mine has made any noise is when my mouse decides to drop his food on it and run. I like these so much that each of my mice now have one.
Reviewer: Vicky1804
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Review 15 of 15
Place Purchased: Ebay.co.uk
Price: £2.50 (+£1.75 P&P)
Score: 9/10
These are fantastic wheels, which can be attached to a barred cage, or used on the included stand. They don’t take up much room at all in a cage, even on the stand and are as silent as you could possibly get a wheel!
This is my number one choice for wheels and I have a huge stockpile of them! I stocked up, because they’re not that expensive if you look around and the mice really do love them, as they’re the same shape as any other wheel and so they don’t need to learn to do anything differently. I also did this because I head that they can suddenly start to break after a certain amount of time, which is understandable, what with the all use and abuse they get!
I haven’t had one break yet, although I have had one which wasn’t usable from the very start, as the yellow part, that is put onto the base, or twisted onto the bars of a cage, was detached and kept coming apart even after I’d struggled to get it back on. I don’t see why this has to be detachable as this part doesn’t have to move at all and I might just superglue it together, this is a design flaw in my opinion.
It’s not the only design flaw it has, either. The coloured part around the edges comes apart from the main, white plastic part. This leaves a small gap running along the center of the running part of the wheel, which extremely tiny feet could possibly get hurt in and also means a a build up of faeces, urine and whatever else gets in there…cleaning is a pain.
It’s not really possible for more than one mouse to run at any one time, so if there’s a smaller group, you’d need more than the one wheel.
All the mice love these wheels, one in particular only stops running to eat, drink and grab a ten minute catnap!
I feel that they’re good value for money, IF you pay less than the RRP and I will continue to buy these until they’re out of production.
Reviewer: Effy
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