Salmonella

Salmonella is found in most egg-laying creatures such as birds and reptiles. It's typically in the intestinal tract and feces. So as long as you wash your hands after handling your cham or any other reptile friend, you should be fine.
 
It's a great diet aid. :) I came down with Salmollena last month and loss ten pounds. Not to mention lay around bed for a few days. Fun stuff. Wash your hands good after handling and cleaning, I wear latex gloves when cleaning cages, and keep hand sanitizers close at hand. Unless you like spending time in the bathroom. :p
whats this i hear about all reptiles having salmollena? should this be something to worry about?
 
Are you talking about this?
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-health/20081006/MED.Exotic.Pets/

What a fear mongering article. Jeez. I agree - no kids under 5 should have a pet at all. But lizards more likely to bite then dogs or cats? Seriously? That's a pretty general statement.

As my vet has said, he's never seen a healthy, thriving reptile that had salmonella.

You can do a salmonella culture on your chameleon pretty easily but it's expensive. Upwards of $70-$100 depending on the vet and the test. I just had one done on mine and he came back clean.

If you're cham has salmonella it can be very harmful to it, just like it can to people. If your cham is sick I'd get a parasite and salmonella screening all together to see what's going on in his gut.

Salmonella can only be contracted through contact with another reptile or creature with salmonella.
 
yea, bearded dragons carry it alot of the time, but just like Spork said, just keep it clean. Also I have read that there has never been a recorded medical case of salmonella in humans due to reptiles.
 
I have had a lot of chameleons and other lizards autopsied over the last 20 years and only once or twice has salmonella ever shown up.
 
yea, bearded dragons carry it alot of the time, but just like Spork said, just keep it clean. Also I have read that there has never been a recorded medical case of salmonella in humans due to reptiles.

Unfortunately that's not true. There's tons! People need to be responsible and keep their pets clean and disease free. Turtles crap in their water, so that's a breeding ground. Iguana's a beardie's drag their tails through it. Chameleons are fairly clean, but I did read one medical journal that documented a baby becoming ill with salmonella after visiting her grandma's house where their were 4 or 5 chameleons roaming free in the living room (crapping on the carpet).
 
I have had a lot of chameleons and other lizards autopsied over the last 20 years and only once or twice has salmonella ever shown up.

I bet this is probably true for most captive reptiles. I would be interested to see if wild specimens have it more often. I still would recommend treating them as if they did have it.


Response to what Royden said:
I always feed my turtle in a separate container. Mine seems to crap shortly after eating. Must not be a lot of room in the shell.
 
i believe you have a better chance of contracting a form of sallamanilla from poultry, and birds.


reptiles as far as i know the only reason why most stores avoid selling aquatic turtles. at least babies... in arizona, is because the problems with salmonella, as royden said they fecal in the water. i didn't realize that about iguanas and beardies unfortunately , but makes sense. water tanks if not filtered, treated and propperly taken care of become sesspools of bacteria and viruses.

other wise wash your hands before/after and you'll be in the clear.
 
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Unfortunately that's not true. There's tons! People need to be responsible and keep their pets clean and disease free. Turtles crap in their water, so that's a breeding ground. Iguana's a beardie's drag their tails through it. Chameleons are fairly clean, but I did read one medical journal that documented a baby becoming ill with salmonella after visiting her grandma's house where their were 4 or 5 chameleons roaming free in the living room (crapping on the carpet).

wow, i missed that one! should have known better than reading from a pet store care sheet :eek:

Thanks!
 
always wash your hands after doing anything w/ your chams (cage, etc...) and you'll be ok. any reptile can carry it and there was a big thing about water turtles having it back in the day.
 
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