I'll gladly offer up my own stupid mistakes with my ferrets!
 
* Free roam ferrets - Boo was a free roaming ferret when she was by
herself.  Which is exactly why Boo got loose one night while we were
asleep, and disappeared for 6 weeks.  We got her back, but not until I
had PLENTY of time to wallow in my guilt.  The ferrets are now caged
every night, regardless of if we have to work or not, and caged all day
until we come home.
 
* Tassy and the fan - Tassy was a wild ass kit.  Which is why she decided
to attack the fan one night.  We didn't pay attention to the fact that it
was within ferret leaping distance.  We heard this AWFUL, hair raising
scream and went running.  There she was, hanging from the fan.  She had
jumped at it, slid down it and gotten a toe caught where the wire narrowed.
She broke a toe.  You can see the toe is different to this day.
 
* Lack of maturity dealing with keeping a clean apartment - Hell, it was
easy to blame having a trashed apartment on 5 ferrets!  Until the day my
ex-sleazy landlord decided he wanted to look in EVERYONE'S apartment while
they were at work, and without notice.  Needless to say, we had to move
within a week.  Not to say my place is spotless every single minute of the
day now, but I *always* look at my place now and think, "What would the
landlord do if they walked in right now?"
 
* Lack of timely ferret proofing - We let the ferrets sleep where they
shouldn't.  Under the stove, under cabinets.  So when we moved, they
expected the same.  The FIRST night we moved in, Howie found the ONE corner
of the entire friggin cabinet structure that was not 100% naturally sealed
off by the wood work.  In he went.  Except in this place, that opening went
underneath the entire place.  We had to rip the bottom of the entire
structure out to get him out.  Now it's nailed up.  The stove is blocked
off with a divider Phil made.  Then there was the plywood Tassy and Maiya
knocked over.  They got out the back door and we didn't know.  We only
found out when we came down from watching a movie.  Luckily, they were next
door at the vacant apartment and came to squeaky toys.
 
EVERYONE makes mistakes.  No one is immune.  No one is perfect.  And
because people have the guts to tell their mistakes instead of hiding
behind flame walls, I check my dishwasher a BILLION times before turning
it on.  I head count ALL 8 before I throw trash out.  I check water, food,
and health religiously.  I vacuum when I see signs of "stuff" on the floor.
I clean cages out religiously.  Not because I was born a perfect ferret
mom, but because of fellow ferret parents and their mistakes.
 
But as always, I guess it is easier for some people to point the finger
than swallow their words and let it go.
[Posted in FML issue 2766]