Hi, thank you for your question. No, I wouldn’t let degus run around in those for a few reasons.

I don’t think you could get one that’s big enough, their wheels should be at least 12" in diameter so that using it doesn’t damage their spine.

Their paws or tails could get caught in the air vents and get injured. It may get quite hot inside the ball due to poor ventilation and as degus can’t sweat this could be dangerous for them.

The degus will likely struggle to control the ball, at least to start with, and may find it difficult to avoid obstacles/colliding with walls which would cause them stress and possible injury. It would also prevent them from being able to explore properly and they wouldn’t be able to easily hide if they get spooked.

The room the degus are in is degu proof and they get a run around most days – the room has no cables, nothing for them to get stuck under and the radiators are off.

If possible I would suggest that degus are allowed a supervised run outside their cage, possibly in a playpen, rather than large hamster balls. I originally let the degus out in the hall until I was able to ensure that their room was safe for them to run around in.

Please feel free to ask me any other questions you may have, I’m happy to have a private conversation if you want to come off anon.