Hamster Ball Full Version
Victorino Eagle
Similar to the arcade game Marble Madness, the goal is to complete a series of 15 race courses in as short a time as possible while avoiding various obstacles. Instead of a marble, however, the player controls a hamster in a clear plastic exercise ball. A short fall causes the hamster to become dizzy and hard to control for a short time. If the hamster falls too far, rolls off the course, or is destroyed by an obstacle, a new one is placed on the course after a short delay. A set amount of extra time is added to the player's clock at the beginning of each race; if time runs out, the game ends.
By following invisible paths on the courses, players can unlock appropriately themed multiplayer combat arenas. During this mode of play, "Rodent Rumble", the goal is to knock opponents' hamsters off the edge or into lethal obstacles as many times as possible within a time limit.[2]
My turtle is super high energy, and I would love to have him roam around, but I don't want him getting lost under things, or stepped on. He's only 4 inches! According to the doctor, since he is an adult he is unlikely to grow much.
He is currently in his hospital tank for treatment of fungus, but he is totally fine to just run around. I feel bad because he is in a 20 gallon tank (easier to keep clean and monitor temperature). So I want to give him space to explore SAFELY.
Tortimer has tons and tons of medical issues right now. I need to be able to closely monitor his temperature and keep everything SUPER clean, so he isn't in a big tank, he is in a tank about half the size of his minimum requirements. He will be moved into a larger one when he is healthy. So far he isn't completely cramped, it's kinda hard to cramp a 4 inch turtle! Haha.
Unfortunately the helium balloon idea is HILARIOUS but I need something a bit more permanent. I have lots of nooks and crannies in my room, many of which would be impossible to reach into (I'm not messy I swear, its just a wierdly shaped space).
Kiddie pool would be nice for him because then he would have space to swim instead of just more space to walk. You could even fill it with sand. If you want to give him land time just drain the water and then he's got a big old sandbox to go digging in. If you want to give him water time just fill it up with water again and he's got a nice big pool with sand substrate.
I've never heard of anyone putting a turtle in a hamster ball and would probably be cruel to do so in the event the turtle was unable to right itself and I can imagine the stress it would create for the turtle to be in a confined enclosure and rolling around. I would certainly not do that. The kiddie pool is the best suggestion as there are multiple things you can do with it and the turtle cannot get out. You would just have to ensure that if you have a dog or other pet that it would not be able to get at the turtle.
Also I'm not sure how well a turtle could walk in a hamster ball anyway. With the hard flat plane of a turtle's plastron and the curvature of the ball I could see the turtle getting stuck or wedged awkwardly in the ball pretty easily.
The ball and the baloon are both kind of funny, but maybe you could make a harness and put something on it kind of like a backpack, so that he is higher than what he normally is, so he can't get stuck under cabinets and so on.... unless you go for the kiddie pool. The problem with the pool is that once you fill it with sand, you can't really put it away.
I'd warn against the harness, simply because it would likely frighten your turtle. Your turtle will probably just think there's something grabbing him. Also, walking around the house even without a harness would probably stress him. Water turtles get stressed when they don't have access to water; they feel exposed. The kiddie pool sounds like the best of the options I've heard so far. He will appreciate more water space more than he will land space.
Barbie, just yesterday, showed me a "digi-ffitti" pic on FB, of a tiny greek{?) tortoise in the middle of living-room, in front of a christmas-tree, with a helium-filled balloon floating above it, tethered to it by what appeared to be plastic-sacking and captioned something like "to keep hermie from getting lost or stepped upon".
Here's my issue with the kiddie pool. It's way too large to fit into my room, plus it still doesn't seem like enough space. I know its better than nothing, but a kiddie pool would essentially be only a couple extra feet of space. Plus the water wouldn't be heated.
Tortimer is not getting wet for more than 2 hours a day anyways, not with his medical problems at the moment. Once he receives the all-clear from the vet he can be a real turtle again, until then he is dry-docked. So what's the point of buying a kiddie pool if he will only be using it for a couple more weeks until he gets back into his tank? Then he gets a BIG tank the following month?
The harness might freak out the turtle at first, but its called habituation. Just like moss growing on a turtles back might freak it out at first, but over time it gets used to it. Repeated stimulation with no negative outcome results in a null reaction. The turtle probably in the matter of 15 minutes won't care about the harness so long as it isn't hurting him. Heck, if a treat is presented every time the harness is put on, he will probably come to associate the harness with food, and be quite indifferent to wearing it.
Also, turtles can be on land, and are quite fast and great climbers too. Having access to water is great, however without a good land-area as well, it kinda sucks for them. They can't stretch those little feet and build some muscles! I believe that having a supervised time to run around is a good idea for the turtle's health. They may not wander more than 5 feet from any given water source, but I don't think that a 6x10 inch basking platform is exactly enough docking space.
I let Medusa walk on the floor superviced so she can build some stamina and muscles, Tortimer. And I agree.... they do get used to things. If even my stick insects can learn, then so can a turtle. Positive reenforcement with a treat is the perfect way to go.
I recently read an entry in the Star Trek Encyclopedia which noted that there were a lot of little 'in-jokes' on the Enterprise-D's Master Display in Engineering, including a Porsche. One of the most famous was a hamster wheel which supposedly powered the Enterprise-D (if you thought it was the warp core, you were wrong!). My question is then: do we ever see this hamster wheel on the Master Display in a TNG episode or Generations?
The image is apparently from Star Trek The Tour, see Joel Zink's photo gallery here which has an identical image. So, this doesn't really answer the original question about whether it was ever seen on TNG.
I can't find the hamster wheel, but you can see a blurry version of some of the other gags in the original version of "The Mind's Eye" (4x24), but these were digitally removed in the 1080p remastered version.
While in Chongqing we went to a carnival by the river side. There was one event that got our attention immediately. It looked like people running around inside giant hamster balls on top of water. What fun!
Thirdly, you are doing heaving rolling activity so your normal breathing volume would be more than 8 liters/minute. the oxygen level would be exponentially decreased as the activity remained because the ball was sealed.
Thanks for doing those calculations. But why not just determine the approximate total amount of oxygen in the ball (apparently 33500 L * 21% = 7035 L), then set an average consumption per minute (maybe 10 L?) to determine the total minutes of oxygen in the ball?
At sea level air is about 21% oxygen, so in that 4090 liters of air there are about 859 liters of oxygen. According to this estimate, humans consume an average of 1900 liters per day of oxygen, or 79 liters per hour, meaning that the oxygen could theoretically last for nearly 11 hours (that would be if you were sitting there quietly, I guess, but even twice the oxygen consumption would give you far longer than 5 minutes).
Carbon dioxide content in fresh air varies and is between 0.03% (300 ppm) to 0.06% (600 ppm), depending on location and in exhaled air approximately 4.5%. When inhaled in high concentrations (greater than 5% by volume), it is immediately dangerous to the life and health of plants, humans and other animals. The current threshold limit value (TLV) or maximum level that is considered safe for healthy adults for an 8-hour work day is 0.5% (5000 ppm).
(this assumes the proportion of co2 in exhaled air does not rise as the atmospheric concentration rises, which is probably false, but would only serve to increase our estimate of the concentration of co2 in the bubble, which would shorten the safe period)
Haha i went in one of those in wales lol i thought there was holes where the handles was until i realized the was covered up lol.I went in one and it was impossible to walk in them i kept falling lool
I can't answer every question, but I can tell you that in order to play in the ball the ball has to be at least six inches in diameter for dwarf hamsters and at least eight inches for Syrians to help prevent back arches.
Also, don't leave your hamster in there for too long. For starters, he might leave droppings in the ball or around the floor and even wee on the carpet. Make sure before putting your hammie in his ball that he actually wants to go. If he resists too much, this may mean he is hungry or has business to take care of. Forcing him may stress him out, as well. Keep in mind that your hamster can be in his ball for a while, but it is a good idea to take him out regularly for a drink or some food.
Do NOT give him a Hamster ball.
The Hamster cannot really control the ball, because any ball that has a size the Hamster could properly walk in (without a permanently bent spine) automatically is way too heavy for the Hamster to control.
As Alivia pointed out it will become dirty.
It is highly unnatural "ground" fro a Hamster to walk on.
And it prevent the Hamster from hiding. Hamster need hiding-places, or they will be exposed to heavy stress.