Black Bear

Question
How you doing mate, my name is Simon and I am joint owner of a Black Bear hamster called Hugo. Hugo is about 1 and half years old and lives in a shelter roughly 2 feet tall; half comprised of a plastic tank and the rest of metal mesh platforms.  Hugo has a large wheel, him being a large individual, three levels to his cage and assorted pieces to chew on; he also takes regular strolls around the house in his plastic ball. Background over I'd like to describe Hugo's behaviour over the last couple days: upon returning home one evening we noticed Hugo outside his nest, upright and curled in a ball. He didn't respond to non-physical stimulation and stayed in this position for at least 12 hours. The next day he had assumed a slightly different position and when rubbed was very weak with his back legs being particulary feeble. Overall he was extremely weak and we became concerned that he had suffered a stroke(is it possible?!) We brought him to the vets but he declared ignorance and advised us to keep an eye on him over the weekend. This is perplexing to me as Hugos always been large and active and as far as I'm aware hamsters don't hibernate for 12 hours; he's in perfect condition now and seems as happy as ever. If you could shed any light on this mystery for us I would be very grateful. Cheers.

Answer
Dear Simon,
thank you for your question.
Is it possible that the temperature in the room dropped whioe you were away? Syrian hamsters do start to hibernate when it gets too cold and wake up again when it's warmer.
I find the weakness of the legs a bit worrying, though. Hamsters can have strokes and if it has only been a minor one, then it's possible that he recovered from it on his own. Some rodents also can have epilepsy which leaves them very weak after a seizure, but as far as I know, the animals recover more quickly than Hugo did.
I would recommend seeing another vet with him. Here are a few websites that list good rodent vets (I haven't found a list of hamster vets yet, but vets who treat mice or gerbils will be able to treat a hamster as well):
http://gerbilforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=vet
http://www.gerbils.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gerbils/vets.htm
www.rmca.org/Vets
I hope I was of some help to you and that Hugo will stay healthy
Jennifer