Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering how easily salmonella can be spread by a reptile? I never let my snakes crawl around on anything that I can't immediately wash afterwards. But I know other people who are always letting their snakes crawl in their clothes and bedding. Or whose beardies run lose in the house. Am I just too paranoid? If I've just held one of my snakes, I try not to even touch anything until I've washed my hands

n/p

There are quite a few reported cases every year from what I understand, although no one is really studying it so it would be hard to say for sure. I believe CDC said there were 40,000 reported cases of salmonella but I don't know if that is just due to reptiles or from all sources. CDC also guesstimated that there are actually closer to 90,000 cases including the unreported cases. I did see these figures in HSUS newsletter about banning reptiles as pets, so the figures could be exaggerated. It seems like a lot to me.

That being said, I have heard that husbandry is directly related to the risk of salmonella. If you are keeping your cages clean, quaranting new animals, washing your hands and taking your herps to a vet for yearly health/fecal exams I would say you have less of a risk. I don't let mine in bed with me, but they do crawl around on the couch since I normally don't put the couch in my mouth. Also I wouldn't directly lick the snakes if I were you...
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Anna Plaxco

Corns
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1.1 Ghost (pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - ? & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
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-We have no right to distress any of God's creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals, and so they are for they cannot tell us how they feel; but they do not suffer less because they have no words. -Anna Sewell

on another forum, the Bearded dragon forum I think, there was a woman who was diagnosed with salmonella. She owned various reptiles, included bearded dragons and snakes, but it turned out she didn't contract Salmonella from any of her reptiles, but from her cat.

Washing hands after handling any reptile or animal for that matter, is the best way to prevent contracting Salmonella. Keeping your pets' environment clean and dry will also help.

I seem to recall hearing that Salmonella thrills better in a moist environment over dry environments so I would think reptiles that live in high humidity or in/near water, would be more prone to have Salmonella on them or in their environment. Don't quote this as fact though cause i can't remember where i heard about this and if it had been proved or disproved since.

Reptiles is just one source of salmonella...many other sources exist out there, besides pets. The germs that cause Salmonella can be found on your kitchen counter from the chicken that was placed there for dinner but not properly washed off.