General Care Discussion :: Salmonellaaa

[bassoongirl1]

Can someone inform me on the salmonella risks present when owning a turtle? I heard something about being less than 4 inches but in not sure. Do the turtles always carry salmonella?

[vear]

I think about it this way.... same as raw chicken, wash your hands after you're done handling it and you'll be fine. Don't put it in your mouth (neither the chicken nor the turtle... lol). The size of the turtle doesn't matter... they just can't be sold if they're under 4" because of a really old law that i'm too lazy to look up right now - I'm sure somebody else will let you know though.

[papoopeepoo]

Straight from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Reptiles and amphibians might have Salmonella germs on their bodies even when they appear healthy and clean. The germs can also get on cages, aquariums, terrariums, the water reptiles and amphibians live or swim in, and other containers that house them. Anything that reptiles and amphibians touch should be considered possibly contaminated with Salmonella. When you touch reptiles and amphibians, the germs can get on your hands or clothing. It is important to wash your hands immediately after touching animals, or anything in the area where they live and roam, including water from containers or aquariums, because the germs on your hands can easily spread to other people or things.

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/salmonellafrogturtle/

[steve]

Some info here: http://www.redearslider.com/health_risks.html

[UniversityGirl]

All turtles have salmonella in their bodies at all time of the life. Just wash your hands and don't put in your mouth (this does happen, the reason turtles were illegal for a while is because kids would play a game where they would put the turtles [poor turtles] in their mouth and see who could hold it there longer, and too many kids were getting sick. Point of the story:kids are stupid). I've had turtles for a four years and have never gotten sick and I'm bad and don't always practice healthy habits i.e. washing hands, and have never gotten sick.

[marisa]

The bacteria is in their gut and is most often shed when when they're stressed and/or ill. So the two best things you can do are:

1. Wash your hands well after handling your turtle and anything s/he's been in contact with.

2. Keep your turtle healthy with a good diet and habitat.