New Panda Bear Hamster Owner

Question
I just got Simon (he has a 's' shape pattern on his back) yesterday, He's a Syrian Hamster, and I was just wondering what to expect?
(He's been asleep a lot, he does get up from time to time, when he first came into the brand new cage, he was curious and looked around everywhere.

Answer
Dear Melva,
thank you for your question.
Syrian hamsters are strictly nocturnal and will usually sleep all day and then get up in the evening. Some will get up fairly early and some will like to sleep until midnight. It's important not to wake them, that's a lot of stress for them and may even shorten their lifespan. You can give the hamster food at the same time every night and offer some treat he really likes, most hamsters will learn that fairly quickly and will get up for that.

They are also very active and need a lot of room to run and dig. Most hamster cages sold in pet shops are ridiculously small, I wouldn't house a Syrian hamster in anything smaller than a cage measuring 40x20x20" long, wide and high. Smaller cages can make them aggressive and will almost certainly result in stereotypical behaviour like digging in the corner or cage bar gnawing for hours. Here are some photos of good hamster cages, many are homemade or converted from furniture:
http://www.tierische-eigenheime.de.tl/Gehege.htm
http://www.tierische-eigenheime.de.tl/*Schwedisch*.htm

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer