Mine was a long- haired grey Syrian hamster with black eyes, fur which looked like a rug behind him and massive testicles. They will try to pull anything near their cage in and chew it (towels and spider plants being particular favourites of mine until I moved him far enough away. He loved his exercise wheel but it made an awful noise at night when he was running on it.
As for taking up a lot of space, nah - complain when you have to buy a 4000 sq ft house to accommodate your cats