When I was a kid, I had very little supervision and spent most of my time at the various swamps in my erea catching different critters, but mostly Garter, Bull, Hognose, and Red Belly snakes. Have you ever grabbed a wild Garter snake? They musk! I never washed! I brought sandwiches with for lunch and would eat them with stinky snake hands. I was sick less than most kids I knew.

I wash my hands before and after I work with or handle my reptiles. I tell my kids to as well, but they don't always listen. I have three kids.. 17, 15, and 11. I've had reptiles all of their lives, and never once have any of us had salmonella.

I know how it is when you're a new parent. You want to be absolutely certain that nothing can/will happen to your child. I think it's a biological mechanism built in to insure survival.
With a little care there is NO way your baby is going to get Salmonella. Without any care the chances are extremely low..
You CAN enjoy snakes and children in the same household.
Kids go through a phase when their young where they will put anything they find in their mouths. It's good keep an eye on that, but most won't be handling snakes at that age!

jason
-----
sounddjinn@yahoo.com

Things always get cloudy just before transformation.

[ Hide Replies ]

• New Baby, need info on Salmonella - Lorddreyfus, Tue Jan 31 20:32:14 2006
• RE: New Baby, need info on Salmonella - wwreptiles, Tue Jan 31 21:01:02 2006
• RE: New Baby, need info on Salmonella - damian5000, Tue Jan 31 21:02:19 2006
• RE: New Baby, need info on Salmonella - damian5000, Tue Jan 31 21:06:39 2006
• I have had salmonella....... - NUCCIZ_BOAS, Tue Jan 31 21:37:18 2006
• RE: I have had salmonella....... - ginebig, Tue Jan 31 21:59:28 2006
• I too have had salmonella....... - LauraV, Thu Feb 2 10:05:20 2006
• RE: New Baby, need info on Salmonella - Djinn, Wed Feb 1 11:37:33 2006
• I have kids, and this is what I do... - dmac, Wed Feb 1 13:03:25 2006
• RE: I have a 9mo baby and 100 snakes.... - carl3, Wed Feb 1 16:07:04 2006