Reptile & Amphibian Forums

me and my future husband will be trying to have a baby after we get married hopefully in may. i know that you should not clean cat litter boxes when you are pregnant because it can hurt the baby somehow? i was wondering if there are any worries about reptiles? not that i would get rid of them if there were i would just have to make my husband do all the cleaning. lol and what about the baby coming into contact with them? could it hurt? any help would be great. thanks!
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brandy

yes Brandy be careful and make sure u wash your hands after handing your ig. Igs carry Salmonella and that wouldn't be good for the baby. It might be a good idea to have your husband do the cleaning until after the baby is born. But to be on the safe side ask your doctor what he think also.

good luck
Carol

Just be careful about salminila(sp). I wore rubber gloves when my son was taking care of the schools ig. Wash your hands and you should be fine.
Good luck in the marriage and with getting pregnant.
debs
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The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny

Your doc is prolly going to suggest getting rid of the reptiles due to the sam. bacteria. (this is expierence talking... when my friend and her husband decided to have a baby she discussed it with her doc and the doc told her the igs had to go.. of course she didnt listen and they now have a happy 4 year old little boy and a happy 7 year old male ig and a 5 year old female ig.)
As long as you follow strict cleaning and sanitizing (or hubby should I say) you should be perfectly fine. Your son/daughter should not be allowed to touch the ig due to contamination issues, because as we know they like to stick their fingers in their mouths and lick stuff. But as long as you properly whipe up messes and the like from your iguana I see no reason why your growing family and reptiles shouldnt be able to get along.
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1.0.1 Green Iguana Andy and Vernie
0.2.0 Cats April and Sugar
1.0.0 German Shepard Dog Router
0.0.50 Fish
And lots of rescues waiting to find homes...

Babies iguanas is a serious topic because of the severe consequences in the event of an infection. On Melissa Kaplan's Iguana Mailing List, a baby died of reptile salmonellosis. Those little bugs can get past us easily, so be very careful.

If your ig was a free-roamer, IMO steam clean your carpets and upholstered furniture. Your baby will be contacting those surfaces.

Unlike toxoplasmosis, which the mother gets from cats while pregnent, human babies are exposed to iguana pathogens after they are born.

Use well-thought out hygiene, such as washing the faucet handle while washing your hands.

I hope this helps,

Roger

thanks everyone for the advice it was very helpful!
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brandy

If you ask your Dr he/she will tell you to get rid of the ig(s). I have gone through 3 pregnancies with my ig Spike. I just take extra precautions now than when I did before kids. Using gloves when cleaning up feces. Bleaching to clean instead of soap and warm water. After she soaks in the tub it gets bleached.. rinsed... bleached and rinsed again with scalding water. She is not a free roamer, would be virtually impossible with kids and their small toys(legos.. barbie shoes etc) and Igs inquisitive tongues... I do not get to interact with her as much during pregnancy and for a while afterwards. She still gets all her needs met, she never was very social even before the kids. LOL and I think she enjoys watching them as much as they love her. Even my newest little one, 7 mos, loves to watch her come down from her basking spot to eat. She gets all excited and makes me hold her up so she can watch, cooing and giggling the whole time. My oldest, 6 1/2 yrs, is allowed to feed her greens with my supervision. But my middle child, 4 yrs next month, can only watch.
I could never think of giving her up, she is a part of my family and will be forever. Just be very careful, as you should with all animals and it should all be fine
Roxanne