Sleepy Chinese Hammy

Question
I have a Chinese hamster (male). I got him when he was a baby. He is now definitely fully grown, coming up to 3 months old.
He is really tame and good natured. There is nothing physically wrong with him as far as I can discern.
The problem is, he seems to spend 24 hours in bed! He doesn't like running the wheel, though I've given him the choice of 2. He lives in an aquarium 10"x10"x18" obviously alone. I've given him a huge range of empty tea-boxes, toilet tubes etc to play with. He just seems only to want to exercise when I take him out and let him run around on me. But even when I let him up my sleeves-- he falls asleep there! Please help me! Is there something wrong with him? Can I change his behaviour? Do I need to? Is he just naturally "laid back"?

Answer
Hi,
thank you for your question.
It imght be that he's active very late at night, some hamsters don't get up until 11 pm or even later. He might be bored with the cage, change one toy every week to give him new impressions, smells ect. (the house should always stay the same, though). Add branches, twigs and leaves (hazel, aplle, pear, willow, oak, beech, birch, as long as not treated with pesticides), Chinese hamsters love to climb. Scatter his food in the cage, he doesn't need a food bowl - they are used to foraging for food and a bowl is boring for them. Hide food and treats in the boxes or thread his vegetables on a piece of string so that he has to climb to get to it. Live insects are also great entertainment, when the hamster will eat them live (I recommend small locusts because they cannot breed in the house when they escape).

If you can get a bigger tank, then definitely do so. In my opinion, the minimum size for Chinese and dwarf hamsters is 24" long and 12" wide and high, this give you room to add second level, a high layer of bedding and the hamster will still have enough room to climb.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer