Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Wonder how this will impact the turtle farming debate
Link

>>Wonder how this will impact the turtle farming debate
>>Link

Seems like a story like this hits the news every year or 2.
It never seems to make much impact, if it does I can't tell. I still walk into stores & see baby turtles for sale or all the stuff for them is for sale & if you buy the stuff they throw in the baby turtle as a "gift" so they aren't selling it.
disgusting!
-----
PHRatz

Here in VA, the DGIF apparently views even a giveaway-with-purchase as a transaction: 'winning' one as a prize counts as a transaction as well. So those excuses don't hold water.

Problem is many people don't report this stuff. In fact they go ahead and buy the turtles anyway.

It's so sad.

Of course, stuff happens. The vast majority of salmonella infections still come from food. Improperly cooked chicken, mishandling of eggs, and various other food items cause it. If we would collectively get over our irrational, "godzilla" fear of irradiating our food the incidences of salmonella would plummet.

When a child is taken for medical attention due to salmonellosis, the Dr.'s simply have to ask, "Do you have a pet turtle or was your child in a home with a pet turtle?" If the answer is yes, they assume that it was from the turtle.

I know I am going to catch it here...but, the dangers and frequency of salmonellosis are largely overblown. Most of us have probably had it and gotten over it in a few days to a week without issue. There is an agenda here, on both sides. At least one side is honest about theirs.

There are people working behind the scenes that won't stop until we live in a world without pets.

Now, let the verbal beating commence,

Ken, I pretty much agree with you on the Salmonella issue: the way we process our food leaves a lot to be desired...

>>There are people working behind the scenes that won't stop until we live in a world without pets.
>>
>>Now, let the verbal beating commence,

Nope 'cause you hit the nail on the head.
Same principle applies to cats. Kid catches ringworm from another kid at school OR from playing in dirt then the family cat catches it from the kid. First thing the dr says is get rid of the family cat.
That happens more often than people think.

I've kept a reptile of some sort as a pet since the age of 6. In all my years of handling them I've gotten sick from Salmonella once & that happened after eating chicken in my Tex-Mex food at a restaurant.
I have never ordered Mexican food with chicken in it since... that was about 20 years ago.
If I want chicken fajitas, we cook them at home.
-----
PHRatz

I will continue to eat chicken at resturaunts and keep turtles because I am very certain that statistically I have a better chance of dying from a heart attach, stroke, old age, car crash, or being murdered the next time I visit a major US city.
-----
1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake

What is the DGIF?

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

oh, tx for that, I was thinking "Department of Germs in Food" lol!
-----
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

Hehehe...that's a good one!

I would like to point out some of the numbers from that article. 103 illess last year caused illegedly from pet turtles, out of 1.4 million cases per year, an increadibly small percentage. These are probably not truly confirmed by DNA sequencing of the bacteria to determine if it was in fact a reptile carried type or strain. Also in the interest of fairness, would be to compare the number of Salmonellosis cases caused by mammalian pet exposures.
-----
1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake

Also the last sentence is a bit of a harsh one sided solution.

"The best strategy is not to purchase these turtles," Imperato said.

How about being a responsible pet owner and parent and making sure that hands are washed and surfaces are cleaned. That's my oppinion of another solution.
-----
1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake

Haha, right! That would be like saying, "The best strategy would be to stop eating poultry...or peanut butter...or parsley." All of those have been implicated in salmonella infections in just the last two years.

>
>>How about being a responsible pet owner and parent and making sure that hands are washed and surfaces are cleaned.

Hey Mr. you need to stop making sense!
We can't do that...it's too logical.
LOL

I groan about the local pet store continuing to sell turtles and other exotics but my problem with them is the fact that it's a horrible store that needs to be shut down.
On the other hand this store is the cause for a lot of local vets making a fortune off the parvo virus puppies the store won't stop selling!
Not to mention the coccidia, the tape worms, and the mites local vets are treating on all sorts of animals from that store.

But still I won't eat chicken from a restaurant... that's just me, I can't bring myself to do it. Besides the fajita beef always tastes better anyway.
-----
PHRatz

We had a pet store like that where I used to work as a Vet. tech.. It used to be called "Last place on earth". We used to tell people, "That store is the last place on earth you would want to buy a pet!" Ugh, the parvo! Terrible, terrible, horrific disease...it almost brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it!

I personally disagree with the massive sale of Red-eared sliders, but for reasons other than salmonella. I will never forget wading through a pristine, cold, mountain stream in PA looking for Wood turtles. I saw about a 9 inch, dark, elongated turtle ambling along in the slowly flowing water of the shallows. My eyes widened and my heart fluttered. I ran forward, sloshing wildly towards the beautiful Wood turtle. I plunged my hand into the cool, crisp water and what emerged was a fully grown, adult, female Red-eared slider. And, bonus, she was gravid!! A cold PA stream habitat is a far cry from their native, warm, Southern US waters. These things are the Norway rats of the chelonian world.

They are a global chelonian crisis. Talk to any Zoology-minded person from virtually anywhere in the world. Unless they live close to the poles, Red-eared sliders are there!

Hehe
yes the vets have to make a living, just like the people working at the CDC.
-----
1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake