The rate of possible mishaps and accidents will probably run parallel
to the time out of a cage and free roaming as well as if the ferrets
are kept in their own room.

If you only let your ferrets out four hours a day you will be much less
likely to have a mishap. Some of us allow ferrets out for 12+ hours! I
don't "do" math, lololol. Nope. But I can only imagine what percentage
that increases your chances for something to happen. If you keep your
ferrets in an enclosed area, such as their own room. Well, then the
chance of an incident is dramatically reduced.

I've experienced all sorts of ferret owning circumstances with various
apartments and homes. I know that when mine were caged much of the
day ... I never even had a near miss. When I had them caged a lot,
but shared living space with them when they were out, there were
'almost-happenings'. But just a few over a course of years. Lastly,
when they were out of the cage, free roaming my house a lot, omg. I've
semi stepped on little ones, tripped over them, stopped them from
trying to slip out of doors, had other people accidentally let out
birds or ferrets when the other was out (yikes), and so much more.

For the record, I've lost two ferrets and almost saw one killed. I was
10 years old. And my first ferret, Baby escaped outside. We are fairly
certain that my adult sister let her slip out. It's a vague memory, so
it could have been me for all I know. The second one was Dippy several
years ago. She was free roaming around, and she slipped out the front
door one X-mas. Who knows how. I mean we are a family of 4 1/2 (I take
care of another child off and on), plus we had a neighborhood full of
kids that loved to come and go. We recovered her miraculously. It was
an amazing thing actually. Okay and lastly, I was fostering/caring for
Karen Douglas's first DMK adoptee, Jillian/Rosey the Rivetor. I kept
her in our bathroom for short time periods through the day like an
apartment. I had no idea that the sink cabinet in there had a huge lip
over an open crack. You have to curl your fingers under the front of
the cabinet to even find it. My ferrets never found it. I obviously
never found it. But Rosie was bent on death. No, I'm serious she was
so tiny, so much smarter than any ferret I had previously owned, and
so bent on breaking out of enclosures (I would too if I were a DMK
ferret), she could slip under doors and through some cages wires! She
drove us nuts and we called her our "heart-attack baby". Hubby could
not wait to "get rid of her" to her forever mommy due to the stress
lol. 30 years, and I've never had a ferret like that before or since.
So, I really do understand when someone describes a "problem child"
who constantly escapes and does weird things ... but only because of
Jillian/Rosey. Had I not had that experience hands on, it would be hard
to imagine owning a ferret that tends to get out control, ya know?

So there are factors here, that I promise you, unless you are
experienced in various environments, homes, situations, hours of time
out, and even types of ferrets (extra small, extra smart, extra board,
or all of the above) you really can't wrap your mind around what it's
like.

[Posted in FML 6094]