Hamster gnawing cage bars

[Aftereightsaremine]

hamster bit of an escape artist & managed to chew her way out of her last cage by chewing on the plastic tunnel clips, eventually found her & got her a new cage mainly metal cage on 3 storeys. She is now continually chewing on the metal bars & desperately trying to squeeze through the gaps. She has chew sticks but pushes them out of the cage & has a little house & wheel. She goes into her ball for about 20 minutes every couple of days. How can I stop her chewing, also she has started biting dcs & they are now scared of her. Doesn't help that I loathe all rodents so I won't go near her! Help please

How big is her cage?
Does she have enough things to stimulate her in her cage?
We had this problem a few years back. We took ours to the vet just to check she was ok, but in the end, we got a large fish tank, with a sat on top. Tank filled with shavings, she was quite happy after that, was able to burrow in. but still able to come up on the platforms etc.

She really needs to be handled daily, and the more often the better.
Get the kids to wear woollen gloves, and do a few 5 minute periods a day.
It's a short period, so hamster wont get stressed, and DC's will be happy.
Get a large, low side cardboard box to put her in if you like to start with for a few minutes, let them wear gloves and stroke her. But handling really is the key!

I'm not an expert, but I'm only speaking from experience!
Hope that helps.

Thanks boxoftricks I have been getting so stressed about this! She's going to be looked after by pet shop while we are away so I am hoping they will be able to help in retraining her!

Gardening gloves for the kids may help.

Our hammy has a tank with no bars as I know they're prone to this and with him living in DD's bedroooom I didn't want her kept awake by the noise. Ours has a deep plastic base and then perspex walls and roof. Think its a ferplast one.

How big is the cage? They need a bigger cage than most people realise. Also has she got a wheel and how big is her wheel?? Standard hamster wheels are too small for a Syrian. If her back curves when she's in her wheel she wont use it as much. They run 2-3 miles a night with the right wheel. I think our hamster wheel is a 10" one.

our hamster chews the bars and he has a massive cage. I think he's trying to escape! He doesn't bite people at all and he is very tame. He is handled a lot. I try to let him have a good run around on the floor every evening as well. If he's chewing the bars I tend to get him out.