Why must you clean hands after handling python?

Why do I always hear how it is important to clean your hands after handling reptiles like my ball python, yet I never get an explanation as to why it is important. What makes reptiles different than mammals like dogs and cats. Rats are unhygienic so I can see why one should clean after them. I dont see all reptiles as being unhygienic though.

As with all animals that lay eggs there is a risk of salmonella.

What freakie frog said.

I'm guilty of forgetting to wash my hands often enough though, for the most part you're safe, but really you don't want a bout with salmonella.

We have to be extra careful in our house. My aunt who comes over alot had a kidney transplant and is on immunsupresants. We don't handle if she is here at all.

Also, some parasites can be contracted form your animals (not very likely but why risk it).

It's a bigger deal for transplant patients, young children, old people etc.

My girlfriend got typhoid, which is a type of salmonella, recently while working in a health clinic doing campaigns in rural peru(she even had the pills you take to help prevent it) and because she was a healthy 23 year old she just took some kind of serious antibiotics by pill for 7 days, she was pretty much feeling all better by the 2nd day except for the drug's side effects.

However if she was some 90 year old lady, she likely would have been hospitalized with a very real risk of dying.

Am I the only person that thinks them laying in their feces and urine is sufficient? :)

I don`t put the snake in my mouth and I do not put my hands in my mouth after handling the snakes.

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Originally Posted by Bruce Whitehead

Am I the only person that thinks them laying in their feces and urine is sufficient? :)

I don`t put the snake in my mouth and I do not put my hands in my mouth after handling the snakes.

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+1

I go through hand sanitizer like crazy! :snake:

+1

I keep a bottle in the herp room and make sure that if someone goes in there with an animals and doesn't come out with one that they sanitized.

urine is sterile. Not sure about urates, but you could piss all over your hands and chow down on a sandwich and have zero risk of getting sick from not washing your hands.

Not that I recommend it.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

urine is sterile. Not sure about urates, but you could piss all over your hands and chow down on a sandwich and have zero risk of getting sick from not washing your hands.

Not that I recommend it.

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As long as the one doing the peeing is healthy..Now think of all the bacteria that grow normally on and in reptiles to help with digestion and what not.. :puke:

I'll pass.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

urine is sterile. Not sure about urates, but you could piss all over your hands and chow down on a sandwich and have zero risk of getting sick from not washing your hands.

Not that I recommend it.

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Well, it's a good thing it's almost luch time!! lol.

I have a snake that LOVES to lay in his own urine... that's enough for me... I don't care whether it's sterile or not, it smells bad and is just plain gross.

Also, for what it's worth, I'm one of those people who washes their hands about 50 times a day... anytime my hands just don't feel "right" I wash them.

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Originally Posted by chrisdab

Why do I always hear how it is important to clean your hands after handling reptiles like my ball python, yet I never get an explanation as to why it is important. What makes reptiles different than mammals like dogs and cats. Rats are unhygienic so I can see why one should clean after them. I dont see all reptiles as being unhygienic though.

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Rats are not unhygienic given proper living conditions. They are naturally very clean animals that groom themselves as frequently as cats and most designiate an area of their cage as the toilet corner. Now if they are crammed in a tiny little tub and forced to stand in their own feces and urine all day, then they may be unhygienic; but that's not really their fault, is it?

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Originally Posted by chrisdab

Why do I always hear how it is important to clean your hands after handling reptiles like my ball python, yet I never get an explanation as to why it is important. What makes reptiles different than mammals like dogs and cats. Rats are unhygienic so I can see why one should clean after them. I dont see all reptiles as being unhygienic though.

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You should was your hands after handling you snake to minimize the risk of salmonella. Since they lay eggs it can be found in the animals feces and you never know if the snake has cruised through it's feces before you saw it and cleaned up.

Cats can actually pick up and be carriers of a worm that is contagious to people and it is suggested that you wash your hands before touching your face or eating after petting/playing with a cat. I believe the worm is mostly harmless to cats but can make people very sick, I'm not an expert and it's been a while since my vet told me about this so I've forgotten the details.

Dogs will eat and roll in almost anything. If you think they're clean think again. Especially if you own a cat, dogs love "kitty treats" and will dig up a cats litter box or outdoor spot to get to and eat cat feces. Yuck!! You ever wonder why dog breath is the worst thing? Well now you know.

Domestic rats are actually probably the cleanest of the animals you mentioned. They can be litter trained, you control the environment and their food source, and as far as I know don't carry anything contagious to people. But I still wash my hands.

Sorry for the overload of info... lol. :P

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

...you could piss all over your hands and chow down on a sandwich and have zero risk of getting sick from not washing your hands...

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But would you want to? :D

Some of the worst infections come from cat scratches. The term "Cat Scratch Fever" has a real meaning behind it. Ages ago when people were scratched by cats they would often get a fever and become VERY sick. Many died from the infections of a simple cat scratch.

Now, as for urine being sterile, that is entirely true. However, urine is the body's waste being removed from the body. That in itself should tell you it's nothing you want to ingest, either intentionally or by mistake. I will say the analogy given in this thread did a great job at appetite supression for me. Definitely not a vision I needed to picture.

You should wash your hands after handling ANY animal, or after carrying out the garbage, or after cleaning up the kitchen or bathroom, or after working outside in the garden, or after any activity that could potentially cause unwanted germs to come into contact with your hands. And you should always wash your hands before you eat no matter WHAT you've been doing. It's just common sense.

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Originally Posted by grim reaper in NY

I will say the analogy given in this thread did a great job at appetite supression for me. Definitely not a vision I needed to picture.

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lol I was hoping to get a few chuckles or some kind of reaction :P

What about the folk that let their snakes crawl all over their beds, faces, clothes, neck, etc. Do you wash all those things after it touches your animal?

I always wash my hands after handling but I don't change my shirt/bed sheets when I let my snake crawl around on them. Does that somewhat defeat the purpose of washing my hands?

Dennis

I'm not one of those people anal about hygiene. Sure, I wash my hands, of course I shower daily. I just don't wash my hands whenever I eat or when they don't "feel right".

Sometimes I am bothered by having to walk around with snake musk on my hands when I catch a nice a little water snake in the morning and don't come home until later, though!

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Originally Posted by Hapa_Haole

What about the folk that let their snakes crawl all over their beds, faces, clothes, neck, etc. Do you wash all those things after it touches your animal?

I always wash my hands after handling but I don't change my shirt/bed sheets when I let my snake crawl around on them. Does that somewhat defeat the purpose of washing my hands?

Dennis

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I've often wondered this myself... I wash my hands then go, "hmm my arms are still dirty and he was climbing in my hair... what what was the point?"

My conclusion though is that our hands touch everything, including our food, and some of us have nervous habits like chewing our nails. So our hands are the most important part to keep clean of anything. We don't go around stuffing our sheets and our clothes in our mouths, nor can we lick our own necks.

It's kinda like sneezing into your elbow instead of into your hand. It's preventative but doesn't stop the bacteria from existing just lowers the likely hood of you spreading it everywhere.