Cage questions

[hisnameispip]

Hello everyone,

I have a question about "ideal" hamster cages. It's sort of a long question that comes with a story attached to it. I have had Pip for about 3 weeks (I brought him home Nov. 14th) and I currently have him set in a 10 gal tank because that is what I had on hand. It was previously used for my gerbils but I upgraded them to a 20 gal so the other tank was sitting unused for a while. I don't have a ton of money for anything fancy right now but I don't think that Pip has a lot of room and I'm a little concerned. He doesn't appear to be a huge fan of chewing things, which is a good sign so maybe I can save up for a cage made of hard plastic with metal bars. I had this kind for my two gerbils originally but they chewed it up rather fast and escaped and I had to look for them in my house (a rather traumatic experience that I don't want to repeat!) I realize that hamsters are different than gerbils but I do want to be cautious as I would be very sad if Pip were to find a way out. I want Pip to have room to run around and climb, as he enjoys that a lot. He loves to climb up on the roof of the little house that I have for him (it's quite tall and a very adventurous climb for him to try). I think that I have several options here. I could probably either get a tank topper for the cage (I've seen these at Petco/Petsmart and on Amazon), or get one with metal bars and a hard plastic bottom that I could add additional levels to. If anyone could offer some wisdom to me on this particular issue, I would be very grateful.