[cypher]

Robos are very different to syrians & some never really become all that hand tame, if he doesn't want to be handled or it makes him too nervous I would treat him more as a pet to watch rather than hold, most will be quite happy to climb into a jar or something so you can still do health checks without having to stress them out, other than that just enjoy watching & talking to him.
They do tend to love digging, he may just be doing that & not actually trying to claw his way out of his cage at all.
Make sure he has as much substrate as you can get in for him to really enjoy digging & plenty of nice hideouts for him if he feels stressed.

Have you spoken to the vet about him? He may not need an anaesthetic but whether he does or not you really do need to take him in for a check, once you have a diagnosis then you can discuss the options with the vet & you can always come back here if you have more questions after that.