General Care Discussion :: How bad is this???

[Tilted]

I know this is kind of delayed (I just read this thread) but I am unsure how healthy it is in the first place for there to be turtles in a daycare center, since they can carry salmonilla and other bacteria. If they aren't even taking care of the turtles properly, they really should be rehomed....

[DavidY]

Yea, that is a concern. I know when I volunteered for my son's 1st grade class, I instructed all the kids and the teacher to keep their hands out of the water and to make sure to wash their hands whenever they did need to move anything in the tank or do a water change. But fish are not as bad as reptiles as far as contamination is concerned.

Hopefully the tank is high enough that the children can't reach it, and the teachers are aware of the potential risk. But with children that young, a salmonella contamination could be very dangerous.

[RiverChubbs]

Yes, I let them know about this too in the letter (make sure you are not letting the children handle or touch the turtles...because a lot of turtles carry diseases. I run an at home daycare and I have 2 turtles but the top of my tank is about 4 1/2 feet tall...so they can't stick their hands in the water either...but it is very fun for them to watch the turtles swim/eat and redecorate...They love it...Plus the turts are located in my office and the children only come in here when I am in here...So they are watched closely.

[scmom0305]

I just got my turtle and I've let my son touch him only once I think. Then we washed right away. I tell him Salad is more for looking at than touching.

My dad has a RES that he keeps outdoors in Hawaii. We were living with them for a while and my son ended up getting salmonella from it but we didn't realize this. We came back to SC not realy thinking much of him getting sick, it was just a little bit and it went and came. After being back in SC for 2 months and going back and forth to the docter,he kept getting sicker and they kept saying he just had day care crud, I finaly pulled him out of daycare and switched docters. The new doc actualy did tests on my son and we Finaly found out he had salmonella. So he had had salmonella for proably over 2 months and we proably would have never known if I hadn't keept pushing and finaly switching docters. It's hard for children who go to day care who get sick. Most peditricians just brush it off as what the call day care crud, ie common cold just getting passed back and forth.

[RiverChubbs]

Crazyness...Yeah...I am glad you caught it...That is scarey.

[scripta_elegans]

That is so upsetting! I can't believe that they wouldn't run tests just to be sure it was viral! Urgh! 2 months! Poor kid!