On Thursday I got up and went into work early (I left at around 2:15 a.m.). Three sleepy ferrets looked at me as if I were crazy for being up so early, and then they went back to sleep. I didn't get home from work till close to 5:00 p.m. that day. The ferrets were home alone in our bedroom all day. When I came into the bedroom, Susie came out to greet me. I cuddled her. Hobbes woke up and looked at me. I cuddled him. Calvin looked at me, then just stayed curled in a ball in their most recent bed of choice. I went over and picked him up, and he was acting kind of weird. I looked at him and realized that one of his back foot toenails was stuck fast in one of the little slots on his collar bell. Of course, *I* instantly freaked out as I tried to get his collar off his neck as quick as possible so I could work on the toenail a little easier. Fortunately he was still a little sleepy, so he wasn't fighting too much. I got the collar off, then I had to pry the little slots open to get out his toenail. Calvin seems fine, he wasn't limping when I set him down, so I don't believe there was any damage. But the implications of this incident are enormous to me. I have no idea if he got stuck at 3:00 a.m. and was stuck like that all day, or if it happened in his sleep just moments before I got home. (I imagine it happened shortly before I got home. I assume he would have pulled out the nail when he tried to walk) Can you imagine if I had been gone longer? What if I had gone out for dinner, or even stayed overnight somewhere else!?! We have left the kids home alone overnight before, and we have plans to keep doing it, but this has really kind of freaked me out. (BTW, the same thing could have happened if they were caged. Sorry, I couldn't help adding to the discussion). We don't plan to make them stop wearing collars, but I guess one lesson we could learn is to take the collars off if we plan to be away for a long time. Just thought I would share this story with you guys. It is definitely something to think about. BTW, I widened the slots in all three of my babies' bells. Thanks for listening, Shelly p.s. Did anyone else NOT get the FML on Thursday (issue #1600)? [Moderator's note: Yes, your's was returned as geing undeliverable. BIG] [Posted in FML issue 1602]