"But don't they carry diseases?"

Nearly every person I talk to about the fact I own herps, I get THAT reply. And it really grinds my gears sometimes because IMO, its a lot of hype.

ALL animals, including humans, can carry diseases/bacteria/viruses, that can pass to humans. From your dog to your horse. Hell, I read anthrax can come from petting goats at petting zoos!!

I think the whole "reptiles carry salmonella" is blown way out of proportion. If I come down with salmonella poisoning tomorrow, sure, it could be from my herps, or it could be from eggs I ate or even from the handlebar on the shopping cart I pushed the other day, or the customer's hand I shook at work.

I KISS my reptiles all the time. Hell, the Crocodile Hunter would nab a mud covered crocodile and kiss it on the head, salmonella didn't kill him.

I wish there was more research into this overhyped fact.

And the "kill it cause it carries disease" mentality drives me absolutely insane.

Agree with both of you! Or even that something needs banned because it might give you something like salmonella. I was thinking about this the other day. Was in a gas station & behind the counter they had chewing tobacco & under that a huge sign warning that it can cause several kinds of cancer, possibly fatal cancer. Now tobacco, which causes fatalities every day, can get by with a warning but if your herp has a chance of giving you something that in most cases will not be fatal, they should be totally banned. That attitude drives me nuts! I can think of at least 10 things off the top of my head that people do for hobbies or entertainment that are way more likely to hurt them in some way, but that is for some reason totally different.

Originally Posted by Sirengarg

Hell, the Crocodile Hunter would nab a mud covered crocodile and kiss it on the head, salmonella didn't kill him.

2 things:
1) That mud covered crocodile wasn't living in an enclosed space, so it wasn't reexposing itself until its bacteria/parasite levels exploded.
2) Just because that isn't what killed him doesn't mean he didn't have it (then, or at some point)

Originally Posted by hhmoore

2 things:
1) That mud covered crocodile wasn't living in an enclosed space, so it wasn't reexposing itself until its bacteria/parasite levels exploded.
2) Just because that isn't what killed him doesn't mean he didn't have it (then, or at some point)

True, but he also handled plenty of captive reptiles. And if he become deathly ill by salmonella poisoning (as many of these reports would make you think reptiles can do), I am sure it would have been in the news. The man almost never missed a day of work at his zoo or on his tv shows/specials.

And how many herp owners have you known who got salmonella poisoning? I know dozens personally and 100s from message boards/forums.

My boyfriend is going to nursing school and he is taking microbiology, has to work with E.Coli and other bacterias. I told him if he can, he ought to do a study on salmonella on reptiles, it wouldn't be large scale or enough to get a comprehensive result, but it should show a trend.

I am usually sporting some kind of poop everyday. I haven't been sick in a couple years.

My daughter and I did get sick a few years ago from bad eggs in brownies, guess we'll have to ban eggs now. Even though it was our fault for using past date eggs and the brownies were undercooked, somebody please save us from ourselves.

Originally Posted by Sirengarg

if he become deathly ill by salmonella poisoning

Why oversensationalize? Deathly ill? What I said was that just because it wasn't what killed him, it doesn't mean he didn't have it. Sure, the media makes a huge deal about salmonella - usually after a bunch of people get sick from a specified source. It's the way they work...and they do it with darned near EVERYTHING, not just salmonella.

And how many herp owners have you known who got salmonella poisoning? I know dozens personally and 100s from message boards/forums.

Personally, I don't think I've ever willingly discussed another reptile keepers (or my own) bowel movements, or asked pointed enough questions to make a guess about how many that I talk to MIGHT have salmonella. Whether -technically speaking - there is or not, in my mind, there is a difference between "salmonella poisoning" and somebody contracting or having some base level of the bacteria. There might be enough of us with it to surprise you.

In September of last year I went to the hospital because of insane stomach cramps. I told them I keep snakes and without a wink of doubt they told me the snakes gave me Salmonella when it could have been the chicken I ate or the eggs I handled or that mouse I caught in a mouse trap. People are to extreme when it comes to reptiles. I'm honestly sick if it. Even "medical professionals" judge peoples health choices based on what animals you have. You never seen any cat lovers being told that their life isn't healthy based on 5 cats in their house, even when 5 cats is less healthy then 5 snakes...

I work with a woman that has 30 some-odd cats...I'm not sure which of us is considered the bigger freak by our coworkers, lol.

I'm curious, Cody, did they specifically confirm the diagnosis of Salmonellosis, or did they just make that decision based upon symptoms? It goes to the point I was hinting at previously. How many of us - or people we know - have had severe stomach pains, "food poisoning", a "stomach bug", diarrhea, episodic loose stool, etc? Those can all be considered symptoms of Salmonella, other bacteria, and/or various internal parasites. If it doesn't create both a major, and lasting, issue, most people don't give it another thought...and would shy away from the idea of bringing a stool sample to check for such things. Most people "recover" from Salmonella without treatment, so who knows how many go undiagnosed. Realistically, unless there are multiple complaints with a common thread, I'd say that number is pretty high.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

I work with a woman that has 30 some-odd cats...I'm not sure which of us is considered the bigger freak by our coworkers, lol.

I'm curious, Cody, did they specifically confirm the diagnosis of Salmonellosis, or did they just make that decision based upon symptoms? It goes to the point I was hinting at previously. How many of us - or people we know - have had severe stomach pains, "food poisoning", a "stomach bug", diarrhea, episodic loose stool, etc? Those can all be considered symptoms of Salmonella, other bacteria, and/or various internal parasites. If it doesn't create both a major, and lasting, issue, most people don't give it another thought...and would shy away from the idea of bringing a stool sample to check for such things. Most people "recover" from Salmonella without treatment, so who knows how many go undiagnosed. Realistically, unless there are multiple complaints with a common thread, I'd say that number is pretty high.

Yes, I was officially diagnosed with Salmonella the only treatment they gave me was they pumped me with 2 liters of Salene Solution in an hour before they confermed the diagnosis. By the time the results from the stool sample came back (two weeks later) the sickness was gone and they left me with a nice fat $1,500 bill just for the test