I ended up getting her :D

He is a Greek, the person I bought him from got him at PetDumb, hence their bad care techniques!
I was told by a Greek breeder on another forum that he probably came from Syria and could be around 10 or so years old. Obviously there is no way to know for sure but I'll go with that :)
He hasn't eaten the aspen (to my knowledge) but was taking mouth fulls of the sand when it was in there...I think he was lacking something in his previous diet and tried to make up for it. I give him calcium and vitamins on his salad to be sure he's getting what he needs now.
He really is funny, I was pleasantly surprised when his little personality started showing!
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!