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DIY Flying Saucer Wheel Version 1

If you've been following my experiences as a degu owner you'll know that my girls decided to destroy their exercise wheels. I was incredibly lucky to even get the 6 months that they lasted.

For over a week the goos had no wheels while I scoured high and low for cake tins and other suitable metal components so I could make them a new indestructible wheel. During that time they went stir crazy! They turned to major destruction and became three little hoodlums. They were already a trio of destucta-goos but they became 3x worse.

Claudia started pinging the mesh on the doors and learnt how to climb on top of the cage. When your cage is over 6 feet tall and you're only 5 feet it starts getting old very quickly. Mrs F and Myka started chewing everything within reach and I thought I was going to have to clad every exposed edge in metal.

Spare time is hard to find these days but luckily, I've managed to Frankenstein together a temporary flying saucer from one of their defunct wheels until I can get to the market to hunt for metal tins or old cymbals.

To turn your degu's destroyed wooden wheel in to a temporary flying saucer is quite easy. I've used a Karlie Wonderland wheel but this method should be easy to apply to other brands.

  • Step 1: Trim what was once the running surface down to get rid of jaggies. Leave an inch or so because you're going to need something for them to chew until you can replace it with a metal version.
  • Step 2: Cut the wheel from the stand by carefully sawing the vertical back support just below the spinning mechanism. Refer to diagram below.
  • Step 3: Get some off-cuts of safe wood (I had some left over from the cage build.)
  • Step 4: Position your wheel horizontally on the stand so that the top of back support (where you made your cut) just touches the back of the wheel. This acts as soft brakes to stop it spinning out of control. The part with the spinning mechanism needs to be on the front side of the vertical support and positioned over the base. You don't want it on the back as it will be over balanced.
  • Step 5: Measure the gap between the base and wheel and cut a piece of wood to size. Then screw it in to position through the underside of the base. You'll need to drill pilot holes first and make sure it's central to the back support.
    • Step 6: Sit the wheel on top of the wood you've just attached and screw through from the backside of the back support to secure it.
  • Step 7: Get some wooden wedges and attach them to the base. You don't want too steep an angle, just enough to allow the wheel to shift when the degus get on.

That's pretty much it. It'll need to be fine tuned so that it doesn't spin out of control but it's good enough to see them through until I get the metal version sorted. It only took them about 5 minutes to figure it out and all three of them have worked out how to run on it together in a triangle formation. Need to see if I can get a video of them doing it.

It's not silent and makes a bit of noise but it'll do for now. Hopefully I'll find something at the market on Friday. Wish me luck!

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