I made and make something simlular for my hamsters, too.
I usse empty toilet paper rolls and instead of cutting the end , i just fold the ends to the inside of the roll.
Some of my hamsters used to "disturb" the rolls after a few trys even when i didn't cut holes in it because they understood it really fast.
At the moment, only one of my 3 hamsters is interested in these rolls.. at least one having fun with them