As an alternative for the "miles and miles" my hamsters always ran in my room. On the bed, in the bathtub, in obstacle courses I made in the hall etc. . My hamsters were always very strong and muscular for such little guys.

But I guess individual hamsters will be picky and contrare. What odds. I have my own experience and I abide by it. Don't really care. You can take it or leave it. I suppose my input doesn't count if I'm not in the clic.

Well there's really no reason to be defensive about it, I respect you and your opinions, but it's just not feasible for everyone to exercise their hamsters like that every night. And the only reason why I went and asked other people is because I wanted to see if anyone did in fact agree with you and your position on wheels to give you a fair chance.

For a new hamster owner, I wanted to give her the best advice possible, and to me and to other hamster owners, the best advice I guess really is to keep the wheel available to them. It's not a clique, it's more that someone else agreed with me on it, and we have good reason to think that the wheel is important and a staple for hamsters.

I think it would be really great if I had the time and space to be able to do that with my hamsters every night, and I have absolutely no life outside of school, but It's just not realistic for me. And I worry about the bad behaviors that hamsters present when they are unable to unleash all their energy.

We were not teaming up on you we are both hamster owners who have experiences of our own.

Bluetrooth, Just wanted to point out that whenever your hammy gets used to the plastic ball and wants to use it more, like around a room, please make sure that any descending stairways are blocked off.
Good Luck.

Very true if the door is not latched the will find a way down the stairs ... I learned the hard way