My Syrian has an alligator shaped whimzee, and she's fine with it (though I did have to turn it upside down to make the edges easier to get at!). Before that she had a hedgehog shaped one - it really doesn't have to be the toothbrush one
Lots of hamsters don't really care much for wood, but whimzees are almost universally popular, and very good value (one every couple of months or so for Inky the Syrian, to give you an idea)