HTD's?

[beanersmysav]

I was reading another post on the general discussion forum about first aid etc. I was just wondering other than salmonella what other infections etc can humans contract from reptiles? Not that I think I have any as I wash my hands, cuts, etc when dealing with herps I was just wondering if there are more things as I heard the guy in the pet store telling someone else theres something you can get from snakes that eats holes in your stomache? I doubted it as this is the same guy who told me he feeds his blue tongue 25 pinky mice at a rip which is insane in my oppinion as I've got friends with blue tongues who eat no where near that amount nor would they feed them that much meat in a month let alone a day as he uses lots of good greens like you should

[lostwithin]

Hi, ok there are ALOT of old wives tales about illness from herps, but in reality if you keep your snakes (or other reptiles) clean you have nothing to worry about, even salmonella is only a worry if your dealing with dirty animals, and I would like to point out I said animals, not herps, all dirty animals can carry bacteria, herps are no exception, but you are safe if they are clean and healthy.

In the end, don’t listen to people in pet shops, 95 % of what you hear from them is bull.

Devon

[beanersmysav]

Ha truthfully from my experience I'd say 100%, unfortunatly I listened to them when I first got my Savannah over three years ago which led to some problems early on but I've corrected all of these problems and I don't want to say I have a perfect set up as I don't believe anyone does since there's always room for improvement but he's doing much better since I've read a ton of care sheets, books, and got help on these forums. I don't have to worry about having any dirty herps but I still wash my hands to be safe.

[lostwithin]

Ha ha I agree I gave them 5% to be nice, and everybody makes the mistake of thinking they know what they're talking about at some point and time. There was a post not to long ago about washing hands lol, you should try and find it there are some good opinions on it. I myself don’t wash my if I just touch a herp, I mean if I’m cleaning, or have just reached into a bucket of warm water and rat's then yes for sure. But if I reach in to pick them up I could put them down and eat 2 second later and not think twice, in fact I can think of several times that I have broken off a piece of apple I’m eating and fed it to a turtle or lizard sitting on my lap lol.

Devon

[Linds]

Reptiles are probably the lowest end of the spectrum for zoonotic diseases. Salmonella is the main concern when working with them. There is nothing you can pick up that will be eating holes in your stomach, by any means. I don't even think the tapeworm is the same strain that affects people (not sure, don't remember offhand - even if it was, you would have to eat your reptile uncooked...lmao :p). Either way, as Devon mentioned, as long as you are clean there are really no concerns.

[DragnDrop]

Check out the website by Daniel S. Shapiro, M.D.
Director, Clinical Microbiology Laboratories
Boston Medical Center
Boston, Massachusetts

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Boston, Massachusetts

I bet he knows what he's talking about....

Daniel Shapiro's Zoonosis Webpage (http://medicine.bu.edu/dshapiro/zoo1.htm)