first, the strain of salmonella associated with reptiles is particularly virulent in humans. You do not need to have direct contact with the feces, as was the case in the case I mentioned. The simple and scarey fact is that children of that age are naturally immune compromised...even very small numbers of bacteria could cause serious/fatal illness. Simply washing the snake certainly did not remove bateria from the animal to any great degree. Did mom quickly change the childs clothes? If not, another opportunity for later exposure. Also, I'm not sure which if any strains of salmonella make up a natural part of the canine gut flora. With dogs, I'd me much more concerned with worms...hooks, pins, etc., etc...

Read the tenor of my posts. I never came to slam anyone and never did. I did try and offer another reason why the OPs practice may not be adviseable. Forget how bad it ooks for the hobby...I was just hoping to educate and prevent reading another horrible story in the newspaper....

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