[peculiarplanets]

Hi! Sorry to hear about the problem you're having with the hamster. I have a female Syrian too and I recognise some of this behaviour. My Syrian Jupiter is very hard to please and loves to chew as well. She also loves to climb and will often climb on top of things to chew on the mesh on the lid of her aquarium tank. She's not interested in boredom breakers at all but is a true escape artist.

You mentioned that the hamster is taken out for free running twice a week. I take Jupiter out every night, usually in two separate blocks of 20-30 minutes to divide her energy. While doing so she'll chew on the carpet or on the door frame. While I do try and pull her away from some spots, I will allow her to do so in spots where the damage will be hidden (such as the corner of the carpet behind my bedroom curtain). I've noticed that since I've started to take her out more she became a bit calmer. She'll still bite the mesh but not as frantic anymore. Usually she does this when she wants to be let out.

Hamsters are rodents and rodents like to chew. Syrian females are just very hard to please but they're absolutely wonderful when you get to know them. Jupiter is at her happiest when she gets to explore places outside of her cage with things to climb onto and dig behind (which is why I scatter many plushies around my bedroom for her to climb on).

And I agree with Ria P. I recently changed Jupiter's cage set up twice in a row with like a week in between and I could immediately tell she wasn't happy with that as the mesh biting became more frantic and almost aggressive. Also check if the wheel works because I know that Jupiter's often gets stuck because of the substrate she shoves underneath it.

I hope this helps!