Weird dwarf hamster behavior

Question
Hi -

I have a one year old female dwarf hamster. She goes into these moods where she obsessively chews on the bars of her cage, and tries to climb to the very top of the cage using the bars as leverage. for 10-15 min at a time, as if shes trying to get out. I don't know what is causing her to do this. I've put pieces of wood in her cage that she can chew and those vegetable fiber flowers, but she doesnt pay attention to them. she seems very freaked out. She often has a quiet and dark environment much of the day since I am not home. The cage has a plastic bottom and metal bars. I feed her a mix of seeds - i cant remember what its called. I moved her from LA to San Diego about 3 weeks ago - i thought she was protesting but its been a while now. what should i do?

Answer
Dear Sandra,
thank you for your question.
Cage bar chewing is usually a sign of boredom and/or a too small cage. In my opinion, the minimum cage size for a dwarf hamster is 30x15x15" long, wide and high. Offer her new toys to keep the cage interesting: toilet paper rolls, cardboard boxes or crumpled paper/tissue with food hidden in them, vegetables threaded on a piece of string or cklamped between the cage bars, twigs and branches from hazel, willow, pear, apple, beech, birch poplar or oak (must be untreated), cork bark, unvarnished baskets make from willow (Ikea has a good selection in their decoration department) ect. Change the furniture of the cage around a bit every week or so, but not too mcuh so that she still recognizes everything, her house mustn't be moved or changed, too.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer