Degu? I had one the wheel came off...

Degus can run up to 5k a day in the wild, meaning they are extremely active little creatures and so it is essential (at least for ours who may not get out as much as other people's) that they have an exercise wheel as part of their entertainment.

We initially bought the set up kit from Pets At Home which included their standard wheel.
After two and a half months this started making a horrendous noise whilst we were watching TV to the point where it became unbearable.

Standard Wheel



On closer investigation the pressure caused by three growing Degu, often trying to run on the wheel at the same time, was destroying the axle in the centre.
The plastic was being eroded by the harder plastic of the wheel and scraping every time they got going.
Turning the plates holding it onto the stand brought us about two more weeks until it fairly stopped working.
At which point the Goos trashed their cage, chewing and destroying every thing they could - attacking the shelves, the bars and chucking things around until we replaced the wheel with a shiny new one from Pets At Home.
Once a new wheel was installed peace descended.

Ruined Axle



For about two months...
Then the new wheel started exhibiting signs of wear which grew worse and worse.

Given that these wheels cost about £20 a pop it looked like we were going to average £80 a year on Pets At Home wheels!
Fortunately we stumbled across John Hopewell on line.
John makes metal wheels, cages, drinking devices etc for rats, degus, chipmunks etc
And for £50 he sells a metal wheel which runs on the same principal as a car wheel so it is on bearing rather than a single axle.
The advantage to these wheels is that they are bigger than the Pets At Home one which means that the girls can run at full stretch for extended periods rather than have to arch their backs and suffer strain and injury from this.

The girls loved the wheel.





Four months after installing it there was a horrid grinding sound in the cage.
They little pests had attacked the soft metal of the rivets holding the turning mechanism to the wheel and it was practically hanging off.
Fortunately I was able to redrill the holes and secure with cut down stainless steel bolts, which (touch wood) they haven't managed to get through yet!