Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well its not THAT serious but i wanted to know if i can get salmonella from putting my corn snake in my mouth. I am being quite serious here because i dont want to get sick. What will happen if i get salmonella? can it be fatal?

Now, I am assuming you are asking this JUST as a general question and not because you are really considering doing this, because personally anyone that would purposely stick their snake in their mouth is a complete moron.

Now to the question:

Yes, Salmonella can get you quite sick. Will it kill you? Possibly, but quite unlikely. It will mostly make you VERY sick. Salmonella is present in the feces of animals (just so you are aware). Hope that answers your question.

Chris

>>Well its not THAT serious but i wanted to know if i can get salmonella from putting my corn snake in my mouth. I am being quite serious here because i dont want to get sick. What will happen if i get salmonella? can it be fatal?
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U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

Why are you asking this question? I hope you aren't planning to put a snake in your mouth. Why would you think that your snake would want to go in your mouth? I sometimes wet a breast pocket and put a snake in the pocket to provide a warm, humid place to aid shedding, but a mouth would be completely inappropriate for that technique.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

LoL no I dont mean for my snake to live/hang out in my mouth. Sometimes i play around and grasp his mid body in my mouth but never put him actually inside my mouth. Can that cause salmonella? I ask because i was doing that one time and my brother said I could get it like that.

I'd avoid grasping any part of a snake in my mouth. I read another post on here recently where a person said that he'd never heard of a snake owner catching salmonella from his snakes. The fact that you're typing on your computer and not sick in the bathroom waiting for a trip to the hospital is a good sign, but I wouldn't count on it forever. My kingsnake occasionally crawls around my neck and starts investigating my face. That's one time when I push him away and force him to investigate somewhere else.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

Consider this...

While you are sleeping, your snake wanders around his enclosure. Perhaps he poops in a certain area. As he wanders around his enclosure, he will invariably crawl right through that spot again.

Then, of course, you take him out of the tank and, in jest, grab him mid-body with your mouth.

Another situation... your snake eats and wraps his coils around the food item OR simply covers that food item with his coils... then you grab the snake mid-body with your mouth.

Completely GROSS! You can come up with scenario after scenario and each one would dictate that putting the snake in your mouth is simply idiotic.

Question, do you even bother to wash your hands after handling your snake? Every book I've read concerning being a responsible snake owner says that proper hygiene is a MUST. Yet, you pick up your snake with your mouth.

Sheesh!!!

lol thunderdan im not nasty. I feel close to my snake that i must pick him up with my mouth and i will stop now. i dont wash my hands after handling him but i will do that also now. oh yeah and ball python forum = nasty. i tried to ask a question there and people skip your posts or have something mean and nasty to say. why post if you have something nasty to say? then when they see a persons million dollar snake that wont live long they act all nice and treat him like there savior. i wont be going back to that forum. anyway thanks people.

Dude, after I posted... no, immediately after I pushed the "post" button, I wished I hadn't been so harsh. My apologies. If I offended in any way, I do apologize.

I AM glad that you'll be more "hygenic" and careful with your snakes!

I make it a habit to wash my hands before and after handling my reptiles. PLEASE KEEP ALL ANIMALS OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. Its good that you feel close to your snake, use that as motivation to give him the best care possible.

WES

I don't think it's crazy to do that, maybe not hygienic and maybe risky to some degree but I used to do that with my black rat a lot. Just open up and she'd crawl in for a peek. Never had a problem in 3 years. Not for everyone but don't think you're a freak or anything for doing it

Fred

A lot of the data with reptiles and salmonellosis is related to iguanas and turtles, but I know there are cases where snakes are implicated.

Here are a couple of links to read about salmonellosis -

www.kcmo.org/health/factsheets/SalmonellosisinReptiles.pdf

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/salmonellosis_g.htm

You are probably more likely to get salmonellosis by eating raw chicken, but just because something else is MORE dangerous doesn't diminish the threat of the other behavior.

Basically, there is no reason to do this. Furthermore, we don't know anything about the transfer of disease from humans to reptiles. Putting a snake in your mouth increases chances of that as well.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

And some of your questions have validity. This question has me thinking about the common sense of some pet owners! Why on earth would you want to stick a snake in your mouth?? Snakes are just like any other animal. They can carry bacteria, viruses, and other nasty organisms. That is why any reptile owner should wash his or her hands after handling reptiles. That is a standard rule in my house! Please, use some common sense and do not stick ANY pet in your mouth. Be it a mouse, gerbil, lizard, cat, dog, snake, whatever, dont do it. I have a 10 year old son that knows better than that!!!

Please, do yourself a favor, and do some serious research on your snakes!!!! Buy a couple of books and surf the internet and get educated on the animals you are keeping. Stuff like this is what gives the anti-reptile people ammunition to try and put bans on reptiles!! So think about the future ramifications of everyone in the herp community before you do and say things!!
Brian Baker
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RATS
1.0 Corn snake "Warpath"(KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Reaper and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Great plains rat snake "Reign Fire" (TX locale)
1.0 Grey rat snake "Punisher" (White oak phase)(Dwight Good stock)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

thanks chrish and hotshot for the info. i just got the idea because my friend use to do it with his parakeets (hes crazy) and that made me do it with my snakes. maybe i dont have this thing you call common sense but i always try to do the best for my snakes or else i would skip this website. i keep having trouble with my snakes, ball wont eat,corn skips meals and rat snake doesnt eat anymore. i would go on every forum and ask for questions but not after being beheaded by the ball python people. all of them have problems, you can buy a 10 thousand dolar snake but you cant buy friends anyway thanks people for the info.

if your a healthy adult you will recover. Its sucks, thats for sure, vomiting and diarea, for days. You can get it from your cornsnake if your cornsnake is a carrier. Usually it's spread by fecal contact. You are more likely to get it if your snake is dirty from contact with it's own fecal matter. Personally I am all for live and let live, whatever floats your boat etc., but putting a snake in any bodily orafice is just gross, and as a form of beastiality, probably illegal.