Human Sickness And Ball Pythons

Hey Yalls,
I thought about this today but couldn't come up with an answer. Can human sicknesses, as in the cold/flu/viruses/etc be transferred onto ball pythons?
Thanks,
HenryTheSnake

No. Just as we cannot get the reptile version of a respiratory infection. Very few viruses can actually travel between different hosts of species. AIDS, Sars, and Ebola are examples but those are severe cases. There are viruses that can travel from animals to humans such as mad cow disease and the H1N1 virus, but again, those are severe. A common cold would not effect your snake.

Salmonella and e-Coli affect both people and reptiles, but they are easily avoided by washing your hands after handling your critter. Since transmission is fecal-oral I don't think you have to worry about your snakes picking either up from you.

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Originally Posted by BCS

No. Just as we cannot get the reptile version of a respiratory infection. Very few viruses can actually travel between different hosts of species. AIDS, Sars, and Ebola are examples but those are severe cases. There are viruses that can travel from animals to humans such as mad cow disease and the H1N1 virus, but again, those are severe. A common cold would not effect your snake.

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+1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Salmonella and e-Coli affect both people and reptiles, but they are easily avoided by washing your hands after handling your critter. Since transmission is fecal-oral I don't think you have to worry about your snakes picking either up from you.

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+1

My fiance was worried about this also when I was first interested in snakes and this is what all of my research showed.