Remembering the Girls

Wheel Spins

Since November 11th, 2023, the girls have had pedometers on their wheels. This helped us keep track of how active they were at night, especially since their most active hours are between 1-4 AM. We knew they were active at night, but we didn't know how active. We really wish we had gotten these much earlier, but we never knew they existed, so we'll take any data we can get.

We always thought Jupiter was the runner of the two, considering we'd never really seen Mushroom out on her wheel when we were awake, so we were expecting her numbers to be low. We know any enclosure cleanings stressed her out, which is why we try to do full cleans as little as possible, so those days typically have a higher spike. This we expected.

What we didn't expect was the explosion of speed and endurance Mushroom had! We were shocked the first night she crossed the 15,000 spin threshold, thinking "wow she finally caught up to Jupes!", but then proceeded to blow past her. As of today, her record stands at 30,962 spins.

Accounting for just about 26" per rotation on her 8.25" wheel, and shaving by 15% since it still spins once she hops off, that comes to 682,102 inches of travel. That is 10.766 miles! Can you imagine!? I struggle to run one mile, and this little ham does double digits some nights.

These days, the girls seem to have slowed down, keeping to under 10k spins most nights. A part of me wants to believe they just thrive in the cold weather months, or enjoy the blasts of heat from the vents near by late at night, but they're getting old. While the 20k plus spin nights were a sight to behold, we still appreciate the sub 5k nights, hearing the little pitter patter in the background, along with the occasional stumble.

Yes, I'm talking about you Jupiter.