Is my new hamster acting odd?

[blanchtheyeti]

(this is my first post and I don't really have a clue what I'm doing)

It is my first time owning a hamster in some years and the first time I've been responsible enough to do research before hand. First off I have what I think is an appropriate sized barred cage which is around 590 square inches, I'm using paper based substrate that is at least an inch deep but still a lot deeper in some parts (I made a deep corner specifically for burrowing), and the cage is stocked with some toys, some chews, a house, a big wheel, and food and water.

I adopted my hamster from a Pets at Home near me and she is totally adorable, a white syrian with cream patches on her head and back and I've named her Momo which means peach cause she is so peachy. She was up for adoption because of fighting that happened with the hamsters she was being kept with at the store, I'm not sure if she was getting picked on or if she was the aggressive one, she had not been up for adoption long so is still only 6-8 weeks old I think.

When we first got home she was pretty skittish first going into the cage and she only looked around a little before she found her house and went to her bed. She started to come out again around 8 pm and seemed to have fun rolling around in her bathing sand and figuring out her new wheel. She doesn't seem very timid, doesn't seem to mind running around even with me by the cage. I thought this was a little out of the ordinary but nothing to be concerned about. However, I am concerned as she keeps climbing the bars of her cage and subsequently falling. This could be the first time she's had a barred cage as they're usually kept in glass cages at the shop and she could just be climbing for fun, but I'm worried maybe she still doesn't have enough space? Could it be a sign she's bored? I bought the cage brand new for her so I really wouldn't want to have to spend more money and let that cage go unused. Does anyone know a way to maximize space? I could probably buy one of those run things but I still don't really want to bother her too much until I've given her a few days to settle in.

Sorry this post is so long winded, I could be stressed over nothing but any advice is appreciated.

[SKB_Hamsters]

Hello and Welcome to Hamster Central. So lovely to hear that you adopted Momo and are giving her a wonderful loving home.

Bar climbing can be due to a number of different reason like you mentioned so I had to say for sure why Momo might be climbing the bars.
What cage does she live in? and do you have a picture of her current set up? To see if their is any indication which might be causing her to climb the bars.

With my girls who liked to climb the bars I made sure that their was a deep layer of substrate (filled the base up) which will shortened and cushion any fall to minimise injuries - as like you mentioned they are the best at getting down safely.

[RedTiger]

I’m also in a similar situation with my new hamster, she seems to love climbing the bars and across the roof. I have a hammock hanging from the roof, and quite a good amount of substrate to cushion her if she falls but she is giving me heart failure! She seems very active in general - her cage is 100 x 50 cm so she should have enough space.

[ebrequus]

Almost all of my new hamsters climbed the bars for the first couple hours to first couple of days to explore their boundaries, see if they could escape, out of stress, etc. Some of them, continued to climb and hang throughout their whole life. I had a Chinese hamster that would pin her self between the ceiling and the wheel to sleep. One of my Syrians would hang from the top of her cage and just stare off into space. She was a little creepy. For the falling part, I would just make sure there was about two inches of bedding.