hamster chewing at cage plastic!!!!

[emma_teddy]

my male syrian has just started chewing part of his bin cage. he has been in it for around five days but this has started only recently. it is around 665 square inches, an upgrade from his previous bin cage. the bin has a small ledge at the top corners, with plastic vertically from that to the top of the bin, which i did not notice until after i bought it. he has only started this in the last day and has already chewed off some of those plastic bits. he did this to the lid of his previous cage as well, but i hoped that upgrading would stop this. he pulls himself up by the ledge and gnaws at the vertical plastic bits. i have no idea how to get him to stop. im worried that he will be able to escape; the lid isn't super secure for some reason.

i have duct tape on on corner but i ran out and don't have any for the other corner. this is on all four corner but he is really only chewing at one, the spot above his pee corner. i can't put something in the way as he will just climb on top of that to reach it, and i don't know what else to do. it is the most irritating sound and since i have misophonia it drives me up the wall more than it probably should. i'm mostly worried about his health and him escaping. im so distressed because i physically cannot get any bigger of a cage because we live in a small apartment and his cage is on my desk; the only space for him and i still need desk space for schoolwork too. i've heard of people putting apple cider vinegar or lemon juice on the spots where they chew? he has whimzee chews and multiple wooden chews. someone help please! also, his wheel is a 9" silent runner and his back does not arch, and it works. his water works as well and he has plenty of food stored up. i've tried scatter feeding him today to try and occupy him more

if i can just somehow block off that ledge so he can't grab it that would be perfect because then he can't reach it! i'm just not sure how. any ideas? cardboard? popsicle sticks?!

[emma_teddy]

update: i removed some of the bedding from the side he is chewing at so that it is not as high up- he cannot reach it now, from what i've seen. i now will need to add more bedding to a different part of the cage so he can burrow. i might wait a bit because he has only been in his new cage less than a week and i don't want to stress him out by changing the order of things so soon. i also gave him a second whimzee chew. i realized i had his jars of food next to his cage; he could probably smell them which i read on another thread - so i removed those too. i am a bit worried now though because, when i first moved him to his new cage, he wasn't scrabbling at the sides as he did in his previous cage. he has started to do so again, though less aggressively/frequently. im just so distressed because i cannot get him a bigger cage, both due to space and money (i spent almost $100 between his new cage ($30) and more chews, bedding, etc.) and i'm in highschool and i only work one or two days a week.

my mom is the one who got me a hamster (though i never really asked for/wanted one) but she doesn't help pay for bedding or food, which are necessities! i can understand not paying for extra toys, treats, etc. but she's the one who got me the hamster! im just distressed. i want to provide Teddy with the best life possible and i just don't know what else to do.

sorry for ranting. my mom just doesn't get it.