Newbie hamster owner- advice please

[MoonRuby]

Hi everyone, please don’t judge 🙊 I’m actually experienced with owning most pets, except hamsters!
When my daughters gerbils died, we decided to go for a change and get a hamster, and we all just adore her. She’s spoilt and loved by us all! I wish I’d got one sooner.

So she’s a Syrian, roughly 4 months old. We got the biggest cage we could get hold of (it’s roughly 80x50x60) we filled it with toys, hidey holes, bedding to burrow in, tubes, sand bath, large wheel, treats, you name it! She has a varied diet every day (I will admit we are a bit naughty, she gets a bit of everything!) she comes out for playtime and cuddles at least twice a day, she loves terrorising the cats too. And they sit next to her cage most of the time kissing her through the bars.
The problem is, no matter how long we have her out, the rest of the evening she stays at her door chewing the bars, begging to come back out. I know bar chewing to be a sign of distress and boredom, but I just don’t know what else I can put in her cage to keep her happy? And with a baby and 2 cats to keep an eye on aswell it just isn’t practical to keep her out all day! When she is out it’s a mixture of running around on the sofas and climbing over us, and we have a playpen on the floor she goes in with toys but she does like to try and escape from that!
What other activities/toys could help? What am I missing from her cage?
(I’ll add- we do have a hamster ball- however I’ve seen online these are very frowned upon so I’m reluctant to use it, although it certainly does solve the problem of her getting more exercise and freedom while we aren’t worrying about losing her!)

Also I’m confused because I spent a long time searching for a cage that wasn’t tiny, and I read every where that height wasn’t important, it’s the floor space that matters. We went for floor space and a bit of height in the end, and Im glad I went for a 2 storey because she barely spends any time on the floor, all she wants to do is climb. I’m not sure if that’s because I’ve set it up wrong! I’ve supplied closed in beds on the base and high up so she had the choice.

I’d be very grateful for any advice, thank you

[Savannagh]

She sounds like a spoiled little madam! Can you post a picture of her cage setup? There might be something someone can suggest that is more obvious from photos than from the description.

[Dodo]

Also, many advise a minimum of 100 x 50 cm cages for female Syrians, who are notoriously both the most fun and the most demanding hamsters. The paw hut seems to be a great option. The Ikea detolf is as well.

[NibblesTheHam]

Originally Posted by Dodo

Also, many advise a minimum of 100 x 50 cm cages for female Syrians, who are notoriously both the most fun and the most demanding hamsters. The paw hut seems to be a great option. The Ikea detolf is as well.

If I could politely disagree...

A lot of people are beginning to not recommend the detolf for syrians, as it is often considered too short for a syrian.

[Dodo]

Haha yes you may Do you mean too narrow or not deep enough? The floor space is almost 7000 cm which is much bigger compared with 80 x50 cages (which actually rarely reach that size if measured from the bottom...)