I second the "stinky ferrets" thought. My best friend from high school had ferrets and though she kept the cages fastidiously clean and bathed them regularly, they still had a bad smell. Yuck. I do think they're cute, though, and I enjoy playing with them when we go to the pet store.
My sister's husband once worked at a department store and a bicycle fell off a display on the wall and squashed a mouse's nest that was hidden in there somehow. There were a bunch of baby mice and all of them were crushed except one. It was extremely tiny; didn't even have it's eyes open yet. He brought it home and she got up every two hours (and she's a lazy bitch, so this was no mean feat) to feed it with an eyedropper. The put in it one of those plastic bug-catching thingies that kids put fireflies in, with a heating pad underneath, and that damned mouse lived for two years.
I say go ahead and get another hamster, if you want one that is. The ones that don't get bought get fed to other animals (snakes and large lizards). They're cheap for a reason. I can't say that I blame you for not putting Matilda in Rodent ICU - and any responsible vet will tell you there's not much you can do for a hamster who's gone south. Most of the time all you're doing is prolonging their suffering. If I had a million dollars, I wouldn't spend $300 to treat a sick hamster, and I love animals, especially cute little furry ones. What's the sense in giving the little guy a few more days if he's just going to be miserable? We once splinted the leg of an escaped hamster on the advice of a vet. He had escaped and jumped off the bedroom dresser, breaking his back leg. We used popsicle sticks and thread, which he promptly chewed off. He spent the rest of his rather lengthy life with a big knot on his leg, but it didn't slow him down.
Sorry for you and Matilda.
