cats and snakes . . .
this has happened to me, and it really sucks
I hope your little one fully recovers
and to me you come across as pretty responsible
we all make mistakes and have lapses
of course it's a lot harder to come to terms with when a live being is involved
it seems a tough deal that they have to pay for our lessons, but you might as well use the education and apply it in your care in the future - you'll do much better than someone starting from scratch