Reptile & Amphibian Forums

soooo...we might be pregnant. did you ask your doctor if there were any risks liked to lizards to be concerned about?

dennis

Good hygiene and you should be fine.
Wife gave birth twice and handled snakes, lizards, frogs and all is good.

My vet told me that as far as a pet is concerned, the greatest risk of contracting salmonella comes from handling turtles. But the greatest risk of all comes from handling raw poultry(chicken, turkey,etc). If you wash your hands thoroughly with a good anti-bacterial soap after handling animals and/or cage furnishings, you should be fine. But never kiss your reptile with your mouth, this transfers bacteria both ways between you & your pet.
Cricket

I am 6 and a half months pregnant with twins now and I currently have 9 adult bearded dragons. I no longer wash there enclosures like I used to, not because I'm expecting, but because I don't have a hose outside and all the sinks are upstairs. Instead, I spot clean their tanks/rubbermaid containers using baby wipes. I give them baths in the tub and spray it with cleaner afterward. Most importantly, I always wash my hands after handling them or anything in their cage. I am not at all worried about samonella, I take pretty much the same precautions as I did before. Good hygiene is the key, whether your pregnant, already have children, or don't. I can also say I have raised many dragons in the last few years (at least 20)without any of them having serious diseases or infections. Good luck!

Just had our baby the 14th of last month. (hard to belive a month has gone by already)
The docs all told us what we thought they would. Keep your hands clean after touching them, keep new baby and babys stuff away from the cage and lizard and all should be well.

Exciting isnt it?

Christa

Congrats! She's gorgeous!!!

Had a baby boy May 31st. Handled Roan all through my pregnancy. Then after I had the baby, I became allergic to chameleons. Anytime Roan or Jade crawls on me, I break out in a very itchy rash.
My doctor never said anything at all to me, and he loved lizards and we talked about them often. Chris did everything. I don't like to do the poop cleaning, cricket cage cleaning. He still does!!

I have a 17 month old son. I had alot of problems with my pregnancy and my son was born at 27 weeks (3 months early) and weighed less than 2 lbs. For his size he was pretty healthy. We had to keep in the hospital for 3 months until he could eat on his own and get bigger. They never did pinpoint what went wrong, except that we wasn't growing fast enough and I had preeclampsia. I don't know if was due to handling animals or not. I worked in a large pet store and refused to slow down when I was pregnant. I also was in a microbiology class when I first became pregnant and didn't know yet (I had a blood test come out saying I wasn't pregnant when I was). I was definately sensitive to chemicals in fishtanks and to crickets. I wouldn't advise cleaning cages or anything like that and would limit handling the animals. Of course lots of handwashing is the way to go and try not to overwork yourself. My son is perfectly fine now and the only problem is that he is too hyper (bad ADD genes on both sides of the family.

I know I do not usually post here.. as I have no chameleons, other herps.. but no chameleons. But I saw the topic on the front page and figured I would add my 2 cents

I have 2 kids, and had herps and was the only caretaker for them during both pregnancies. I am 17 weeks pregnant right now with #3, and still have and care for my herps by myself. Never any problems. You just have to take precautions, that you should be taking whether you are pregnant or not. Washing hands after handling, cleaning, feeding, using a different sponge for herp dishes.. and so on.. You could use gloves when cleaning out enclosures to avoid any chemicals you may use.. like bleach. And afterwards you have to be careful with the little one.. since they like to put everything in their mouths, but not a prob if you are lucky enough to have your herps in a seperate reptile room.
Well congrats if you are pregnant
Roxanne

Congrats Roxanne!!!! Have you told anyone on AB yet? I haven't been there much lately, so I wouldn't know. Anyway, I hope you see this. Congratulations!!

Smiles,
Alinda

Why repeat the good advice you were already given? However, if you have cats you are officially off litterbox duty for the next nine months, though!

Well, I dont own Chameleons either, but I would if I wasnt 16 weeks preggo. I wont repeat what everyone else said as I was cleared to still take care of all of my herps, from tree frogs to pythons, but was warned to be very careful with my pet rats. I had to take them to the vet to get fecals done for Toxoplasmosis(sp), the same thing cats get checked for when their owner becomes pregnant. But even that wasnt a big deal as they were all fine and the cat is an indoor cat. Now if I could just get my mum to shut up about the python "jumping" out of his tank and eating the baby!
-----
*~~Whitney~~*

There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more.

When I was pregnant, I handled the herps as little as I could, and washed my hands with soapy water.
Just to be safe, stay away from feces. Have Daddy do that. You should be fine, just use care.
(I worked a petstore, and asked my doctor if I should worry about any other animals), he said Hamsters and cat litter boxes.
Congrats on the possible family!!!!!