Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok. I'm not a big fan of smoking. I was once a stupid teenager that thought it was cool, as with drugs and everything else. when i got pregnant i quit cold turkey with no problems. while i was pregnant the smell of smoke gagged me and gave me asthma attacks. so my question is: if smoking is so dangerous to people, could it hurt reptiles too? I'm just wondering, i dont let people hold my herps while they smoke, 1) i dont want them getting burned and 2) wont 2nd hand smoke have the same affect on a reptile as it would a human? like cancer or upper respiratory. I'm asking b/c when i lived with my inlaws (*huge groan and eye roll there) i had 2 small snakes. baby RTB and baby burm. we lived there for about 2 months and my perfectly healthy snakes both got upper respiratory infections. we treated them and a month later they were back. we moved out in febuary and the only thing that has changed is that there isn't any cigarette smoke around them. they havent had another infection. I also have a few much much more expensive snakes and i dont need them getting respiratory infections. am i nuts or do you think the smoke had somehting to do with it? does it have the same affect (cancer and such)...
beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

I'm not going into a flame war on the consequences of smoking and or second hand smoke afflictions but very recently there was that very major television programing net work that had the special of 20/20 and the myths of certain criteria and the second hand smoke situation was addressed. You would have to see it and take that with so many grains of salt in what you believe but basically it was somewhat false in nature to the problems of human ingesting second hand smoke as serious as derived at/not derived at. While of course there was indications of problems associated with age factors, health and other, there is debate of second hand smoke and health. So back to animals and smoke, I don't think there has been a study on particular animals and smoke and health concerns. I know of very many dog owners, bird owners and other pet owners that smoke and some like myself for decades with no apparent animal problems. The very first animal that in my opinion and others that would have probable health problems associated with smoke would be birds and particular of the parrot family. I know of very old birds being as pets for anywhere of 1 to six decades and even longer with the owners being avid smokers and the birds with no problems. so I guess this is one of those things that you draw your own opinion. But as far as smoke related health concerns in reptiles........
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I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

Hello - I'm late to thread.
I smoke - but I never ever smoke inside. Why? It ruins clothing, computer equipment, electronics, stains the walls, etc.

Even though I live alone - I go outside to smoke. I don't understand why other smokers don't do the same.

I would not be surprised if the snake respiratory problems were related to smoking, but I would be very hesitant to assume that they did. In any case, I think it is dumb to smoke inside - and I put away about a pack a day.

I probably should quit, but it is rather enjoyable.