Salmonella. Have YOU caught it from your reptiles?

[cmack91]

ive never knowingly caught it, when i was 6-7 i used to catch garter snakes in my yard and eat directly after handling them all the time without washing my hands, the only time i'd wash was when they'd musk me (smells horrible), i did the same after handling my turtles (RES) and never got it, i would wait for my hands to dry but never wash them

and when it comes to aquatic turtles, they are a supposed breeding ground for salmonela, but since they always only poo in the water (from what ive seen at least), and theyre stuck in a fish tank, it makes perfect sense, they dont really have being clean as an option, unless the owner is constantly cleaning

[West Coast Jungle]

As mentioned turtles are the main culprit with this illness. The reason the 4" rule came into effect is years ago fairs, carnivals and pet stores used to sell and give away thousands of wild caught sliders. They would be transported in horrible conditions and were a notorious breeding ground for disease. There were many cases of illness and people associated turtles with the disease not taking into account the horrid conditions these poor hatchlings were kept in. The truth is back then we didnt have the husbandry we have know. The 4" rule was in order to stop kids from putting their new baby turtles in their mouths and getting sick. In most cases animals with salmonella have been kept in filthy conditions, with turtles it just takes one to have it and since they share water, all turtles in tank are infected.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Also, keep in mind that while it's possible all reptiles carry salmonella, not all reptiles carry PATHOGENIC salmonella. There are many different strains, but only a few cause illness. Unfortunately, it's next to impossible to accurately test for.

[Skiploder]

I've been seeing a lot of news articles and mentions lately of salmanella and the danger of exotic animals. We all know the risk is there. But I want to know how many have actually experienced salmonella poisoning from their reptiles?


I've only caught salmonella once, long before I ever had herps. Now that I do have reptiles, I've never caught it.

I currently have two snakes, three lizards, a bird, and a frog. The bird is 7 years old, and all the rest of the animals are between 1 and 3 years old. My boyfriend has been keeping reptiles and birds his whole life and has never caught it.

Now I won't say we are perfect with our care in preventing salmonella. We know the risk but...well, we get lazy. I've kissed my snake before, I've forgotten to wash my hands before eating after handling my reptiles. Most of the time we are good about it, but honestly we treat cleanliness with them and our hands like we do our dogs and cats..Sometimes we'll forget, unless we've been cleaning cages or something. We've been lucky in avoiding salmonella for sure I suppose. But how lucky?

I'm curious to know--the number of animals, how many years you've kept reptiles, if you ever caught salmonella from them, and how clean you are when it comes to preventing salmonella.

I know this is an extremely active forum, so I know a lot of people will be able to respond. I want to see some big numbers and percentages.


To be honest with all the bad press lately, we will be for sure being more careful about avoiding salmonella. We've just been a little bit lazy when it comes to our own health I suppose! Now we'll be better about it for sure.

Never caught anything from my reptiles.

My luck with women while working overseas in southeast asia wasn't so good........

yuck yuck yuck yuck

[purplemuffin]

Thanks so much for all the responses! This has been great. I'd love to get as many votes in as possible to get a good look at at least this section of the reptile world. I don't have an account on any turtle forums, but if anyone else does, I'd love to see a poll like this there to see just how much higher the statistics are.

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I've not and I've had contact with reptiles my whole life. Catching wild ones and getting my first really pet lizard when I was 9 five years ago.(I've gotten a LOT more reptiles since then, just within the last 2 years) and I've not that I KNOW of.
Last August, starting at the beginning of the month, it was odd because well, for 1, I had diarrhea for the whole month and a wee bit into September(so it was hard to stay hydrated, but I did), but for the first week and 1/2 or more into August I was nauseous and just felt terrible from about 8:30 AM to 2-4PM, so it was really a monring thing, but I'd just lie there and feel terrible.
I had no appetite whatsoever and since then I definitely don't eat as much.

But really, I doubt that was salmonella. I highly doubt that since I was always careful with my dragons and my cresteds(hadn't had a snake yet), but I think it was due to stress and anxiety, one mainly caused by(I know this sounds stupid.XD) Stress about whether dad was going to let me get a ball python or not, and the expo was the 13th of that month. Not to mention that the 2-5 of September there was my first Anime convention I was a bit nervous about.

After the expo on the 13th I got a little better(not really nauseous anymore, still little to no appetite, and diarrhea,) but it was mainly after the anime convention I got completely better.

I eat more now, but I think my stomach has shrunk(possible? XD) because I don't eat THAT MUCH, but I eat enough. I've made sure to drink plenty of water/powerade/gatorade throughout the time I was sick and dehydrated.

But I definitely lost weight. Last year I was probably 136 to MAYBE 140 lbs(possibly less than). I weighed myself this morning before a shower and it read 113.5 lbs. (It was also early in the morning so my weight was lower.) But I'm normally about 116.5 now. I like this weight better( A LOT BETTER) I just don't like how I got to be that weight.


But anyway, that wasn't caused by salmonella I'm about 99.678% Positive. I think it was from anxiety/stress because I was better after the reptile expo and after the anime convention.



The only time I would have expected to get salmonella was from when I accidentally got the clear water liquid whatever from my bearded dragon's feces on the corner of my mouth.
(I rinsed and cleaned my face off REALLY well, though I think some still got in my mouth. I was fine though. XD )



I think that it would take actually getting the feces of the reptile in your mouth, especially if it wasn't a healthy reptile.(Which I make sure all my reptiles are kept healthy and clean!) and I use a lot of hand sanatiser too, as in, after handling, between handling reptiles(like, if I'm switching from holding Kallista to holding one of my lizards), and sometimes after messing with their equipment.

(sorry I wrote a HUGE post)

[WingedWolfPsion]

My husband and I had something similar last year to what you are describing, and doc visits did not produce any answers for us, either.

I personally believe it is A) unrelated to reptiles, and B) something that has not yet been medically identified.
Which is sort of creepy, but there you go. What makes you feel nauseous for an entire month, or longer? Not salmonella. Also, not stress, because there wasn't any more of that than usual.
I think something odd is going around, and it's a purely human illness.

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I didnt' go to the doctor at all, which I probably SHOULD HAVE, but I doubt it wouldn't have been productive at all.
And yeah, something that hasn't been medically identified makes sense...
I've seen a lot of people actually (doing some online research) that had the same symptomes I did but nothing turned up at the doctors either.
Freaky, huh?

[evan385]

I kiss my snakes, I don't care. I try to hold them at least every other day and they seem to enjoy being out of their tubs and sometimes fight with me when I try to put them up. As far as hand washing I treat it like if I had pet my dog or cat.

[akjadlnfkjfdkladf]

I kiss my snakes, I don't care. I try to hold them at least every other day and they seem to enjoy being out of their tubs and sometimes fight with me when I try to put them up. As far as hand washing I treat it like if I had pet my dog or cat.

same here!

i wash my hands before my handling any of my snakes but that's for their benefit not mine.

i let my snakes in my bed and handle them 2-3 times a week, my girlfriend likes to kiss them also while they're out lol - never caught salmonella

sometimes my snakes want to come out, they'll be pressing their noses against the door, and if i lower it they slither right out onto my arm (well my carpet slithers up my arm and the ball python likes to crawl onto my hand). Once out, i can tell they ENJOY being out to explore for 10-20 minutes. if i put them back in too early, they slither right back onto me!