At least 103 cases have been reported since May 2007, and many of those infected were children under the age of 10, the CDC said.
“Although most reptiles carry salmonella, small turtles are likely to be handled differently than other reptiles,” according to the report. “They thus carry a greater risk of transmitting salmonella to children.”
The report cited children who handled the turtles, kissed them, even putting the reptiles in their mouths.
Apparently even snakes are likely to harbor this same bad bug, so sorry, no more letting your pet rat snake sleep in the bed between you and hubby anymore.
For once I’m rooting for the intrustive nanny state here. If ownership of turtles were banned altogether, wouldn’t that be great news for wild turtle populations!
Wow– I thought this was an old problem from when you could get those tiny baby turtles in 5 and dime stores. Don’t most states have minimum size limits on turtles in pet trade these days?
But I’m with Dave– far better to leave them in the wild.
yuck! i’ll have to watch for that, having a little one.
i have those kind of turtles and i am as healthy as a horse i think it is ok to have htem as long as u dont stick them in your mouth or kiss them if you do that to any animal you are likely to get sick
awwwwwwwwwwww and i wanted a small turtle >.< oh wellz i’ll just get a normal sized one….BUT THE SMALL ONES SOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE ^^
turtles suck ass
WTF what 2 feed dis fucking turtle!!!