General Care Discussion :: Turtle bit a neighbor kid

[rdrunner]

Hi....by the way, I am new here and had a quick question for all you red ear slider enthusiasts. We have three that live together in a small outdoor pond, 2 males and 1 female....I think. Anyway, my question for all of you is we had my daughters friend (10 yr old girl) pick up one of our smaller male turtles and it bit her finger and broke the skin. First and foremost, are there any health issues that she and her parents need to made aware of? To my knowledge our turtles have never bit anyone and not sure if there is a potential for health concerns. My wife and I were not there and I assume she probably didn't pick it up very carefully and proabably scared the crap out of it......kids!

[crackerlady2007]

I'd advise them to be SURE and clean the wound well to start with. Turtles can (but that doesn't mean they DO) carry salmonella poison. The disease can get in through an open sore. Other than that she's going to be terrified of turtles for the rest of her life, I don't think there's much else to worry about.

[rdrunner]

I'd advise them to be SURE and clean the wound well to start with. Turtles can (but that doesn't mean they DO) carry salmonella poison. The disease can get in through an open sore. Other than that she's going to be terrified of turtles for the rest of her life, I don't think there's much else to worry about.

They did say they washed well and we always have everyone wash after handling the turtles, thanks for the input.

[TheComputerGremlin]

You should probably have them contact their pediatrician or emergency room and find out what symptoms they should look for concerning Salmonella. In a small child, it can escalate quickly to life-threatening. I don't know if there is a treatment for it that they will give before symptoms, but they need to be prepared to get her to an emergency room quickly. I believe the kidneys or liver can shut down pretty quickly.

This is all assuming that there was Salmonella present, so make sure they aren't terrified. They just need to know what to look for.

[Doc_Moore_J]

I'd advise them that you have trained them to attack little bratty kids and to keep her out of your pond hahahahha.

[mat012]

Hee Hee

[steve]

The risk is minimal in this situation and salmonella is usually expelled in waste.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Over 18 yrs with Sheba, she has gotten me a few times & broken the skin. I always just washed the wound well with soap & water & never got salmonella from her. It's important to wash immediately just to make sure & it sounds like the kids did that.

[SpotsMama]

Spot has bitten me and broken the skin. I just cleaned the cut with soap and water and put Neosporin on it and a little bandaid and it healed like any other cut. I believe salmonella is normally caught by eating something or getting something contaminated in through the mouth rather than through a break iin the skin. That's why it's important to wash your hands thoroughly after you've handled your turtle - sooner or later what's on a person's hands usually winds up in their mouths..

I hope the child has learned to be more careful next time.