Do you kiss your snake (or allow your kids to)?

[ctrlfreq]

Finally, we broke down and said, "OK, you kiss him first, and if you aren't sick within 3 days, we'll kiss him, too."

Wow...a vision of a king making someone taste his food to see if they die first just popped into mind.

[snakey68]

hmm I think I may be seen as a little harsh here but I think its extremely irresponsible to allow your kids to kiss your snakes or indeed allow general handling with no washing afterwards.

I do talks at nurseries and schools . scouts etc sometimes around here and I always stress to the kids the importance of adhering to strict codes of clenliness regardless of how clean your snake appears to be.

It is simply not worth the risk imo and I totally agree with the comments regarding the dogs and cats etc, makes me cringe when I see some people bend down and let dogs lick all around their face.

The are simply being dogs and acting like a wild dog would , licking your face hoping for food its not that they genuinely just like you and want to kiss you. Add that to the licking itself everywhere it can reach as well as other dogs butts etc and it makes me boke big time.

Anyway not intending to offend anyone here that does kiss their snake lol that their choice I just dont happen to agree with it for obvious reasons.

I just feel strongly about it when kids are concerned as they rely on us for information and dont comprehend important issues like health all the time.

[Kara]

Something else to keep in mind is that our faces & scalps contain a significant number of blood vessels & veins, and in turn put off quite a bit of heat. Having a snake close to your face or head could accidentally startle the animal that wasn't expecting such a heat signature at close range, resulting in a painful bite. Bites on the head aren't fun & bleed like sin...face bites also bleed like the ****ens & can potentially have serious consequences, not to mention leaving a permanent bad impression & most likely fear in the mind of the handler who encounters such an episode.

Have fun, but play it safe (I know, I know, make up my mind, right?).

K~

[mlededee]

in my mind kissing a snake is the same thing as kissing its wet, poop smeared substrate. that's what they lay on when it's dirty so that's what is on them. that's what gets on your hands when you handle them too whether you see it or not, and i certainly don't want to get that on anything else so i always wash up.

[Kagez28]

here's some reading material for you...

http://www.anapsid.org/salm8.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...53C1A9649C8B63

http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/reptiles.htm


just a little start, i am sure there is much more info out there.

[JeffFlanagan]

Does anyone here know of anyone who's gotten salmonella from a BP?

I'm curious as to how much risk there actually is.

[JLC]

Does anyone here know of anyone who's gotten salmonella from a BP?

I'm curious as to how much risk there actually is.

I don't know of anyone who has. I would say the risk of salmonella itself is actually pretty slim. However....there are other nasties involved. Another member here just found out her snake was totally loaded with coccidia and other nasty parasites...an animal that she'd had for almost a year and bought from a trusted source. (Trusted at the time of purchase, anyhow) The thought of kissing that snake....???? Ewwww...don't think so! But for the last 11 months...no one had a clue what was going on inside its bowels. You just never know.

[MelissaFlipski]

Wow...a vision of a king making someone taste his food to see if they die first just popped into mind.

OK, I am so sorry guys. I did say that to my 6 yr old, but I WAS kidding. And he knew it. But we did break down a few days later.

We will stop kissing (I already told the kids) and always wash hands after.

What is better / OK - anti-bacterial, hand-washing, or either?

[weirdbuglady]

Well, I let my bps "kiss" me, with those ticklish tongues, haha.

I've kissed them a few times, mostly when I was about to leave them behind at home to go to college, heh. Otherwise I'm good about washing my hands and such. I worked at a pet store over the summer and got a bit obsessive about the hand washing/hand sanitizer.

[ctrlfreq]

What is better / OK - anti-bacterial, hand-washing, or either?

Washing is always better simply because anti-bacterial does not equal anti-fecal, anti-urine, or anti-other stuff left on your hands even though the bacteria is dead.