Is this right???

Hi everyone, first time here. I want to get a cornsnake and hope to get one soon. Before I can though, I've read about their diseases, and from most people here, they say that it is worth the trouble to prevent salmonella. I want to know what you guys do with your snakes and how you clean up. For instance, if you let it climb on you, and it crawls up to your shirt and crawls all over it, would you change it or what? Because if you don't, you have the disease on you. You might later touch that spot on your clothes (after washing hands) and it would be just like touching the snake. And if you were letting it crawl on the carpet, would you like spray the ground with disinfectant or what??? If there are sooo many ways the bacteria can get on us, its nearly impossible to prevent them all. You would be limited to wearing T shirts and rolling up your sleeves, then grabbing the snake and only letting it crawl on your hand. That would be boring!!! Everyone says wash their hands, thats true, only if it crawled on your hand. But what if it crawls on the ground? or the couch? or ANYWHERE ELSE????? Would you have to go after it, disinfecting everything it comes into contact with??? GEEZ, I go paranoid about this stuff!!! LOL. Someone PLEASE enlighten me about what to do about this. Thanks. :shrugs:

I used to swim in cattle troughs, so I may not be the best to answer your question . . . (in my opinion, society is waaay to clean-freaky now-a-days, but that's another subject entirely I suppose!)

At the least, I'd wash your hands after handling (I don't) or use a hand disinfectant (I do sometimes). I do wash my hands whenever coming in contact with feces.

D80

PS. Ever eaten a turkey and ham sandwich after field dressing a deer and cleaning your hands in a snowbank . . . yeah, me neither . . . really, I haven't . . . or have I? :grin01:

I agree, society today seems to be way to full of "clean freaks". In my opinion if the human body was so sensitive to all these dangers of bacteria and such, how on earth do all the east indians and africans keep on living and pro-creating?!? Look at the things they do, bathe, and drink water that they have let their cows poo in, improperly prepare food <improper to western standards at least> even having flies and other bugs crawling in their mouths and defacating in their eyes. I could go on...

Anyway, I have worked in the pet industry for ten years full time. I'd like to say that I wash my hands a million times a day but sadly it's lucky if I wash them two to three times a day! They are CONSTANTLY in and out of aquariums and assorted clean running water but I'm no fool, I bathe my body in bacteria daily.

I remember my mom in the early years trying to get me to wash my hands before dinner. I would, but then the dog would walk over to see me as I sit in my chair, I would automatically run my hand down his back, and then my mom would freak out again saying I needed to wash! Frustrating for her I'm sure!

Little did she know I'd be working with puppies having giardia, parvo, coccidia, worms and who knows what else, sometimes even having to pick up feces with my hands <don't worry I sure washed after that! lol> I was also the one who usually did almost all, if not all the work with reptiles. I have never been down with salmonella or anything like that. In my first 6 years in the industry I had a total of 5 sick days in total.

I now have a daughter who has been raised with animals her whole life. People were horrified when I would let my great dane give a little 6 lb baby a lick. I have birds that frequently free fly in the house, so I try to get any poop I see, but I'm sure I have missed some. We also have frogs, tarantlas, rats, snakes, and fish tanks. I'm sure a bacterial sespool.

My point to all this? My daughter is 2 1/2 and has been to the doctor a grand total of 3 times, aside from vaccines. Two of those were the mandatory first and second month health checks, the third was a throw in health check up when I went for mine. Her friends in playgroup are CONSTANTLY sick! I would have never believed how often people are having to go to the doctor for antibiotics, and such. Does it make sense that these "clean freaks" are always so sick? Well sure, they haven't ever given their bodies a chance to just do what it does best, grow all the beneficial bacteria it can, so it can compete with the bad bacteria that enters our bodies!

Anyway, just keep your snake nice and clean, make sure you are carefull if/when you introduce new animals. If you want then maybe take your snake to a vet for a well check and general worming, feed thawed frozen food, which should protect the snake from parasites. Then just relax and enjoy handling your snake however YOU want! If you are not comfortable with it crawling all over you then don't, but if you are then enjoy! Why else do we have pets?

Rebecca

dude, unless your eating food...or rubbing your eyes...don't worry...keep your tank clean...also salmonella is not a desease..it's a bacteria that only lives under certain conditions...and your carpet is not the best culture to raise salmonella...i think you are a little to worried....ask this question to a breeder...i've only had snakes for about a year abd a half..i have never had salmonella...but maybe a breeder could tell us different....

A breeder did tell you different. When I do my full cleanings I use latex gloves, just because it's easier for me than wasting 20 sheets of paper towel to clean up the mess.

That being said, I never wash my hands after handling, and I've had my corns for 3 years. I've never gotten sick from not doing so.

However, if you're that worried, get a big thing of purell and you'll be fine.

I have to agree. Most people worry way too much, when they should be more worried about food prep and storage, especially at restaurants and delis. Not to mention the daily commute to work - the most dangerous thing most people ever do on a regular basis. Our society doesn't seem too good about keeping various risk factors in perspective when taking into account everything we are exposed to in daily life.

I have been keeping lots of herps and other pets since my high school days back in the mid '60s (yup, I am THAT old, lol!) AFAIK, I have never caught anything from any of them, even though I have been known to eat lunch in the herp room while working.

But I still warn people (partially because of liability these days, partially because it does make sense, however remote the likelihood) to take sensible precautions, such as hand washing, especially before, eating, drinking, smoking, rubbing eyes, etc. And special care should be taken for "at risk" groups, such as very young children, elderly people, and immune compromised people (like AIDS patients). If you know you are sensitive to "catching whatever is going around", then you should probably take extra precautions. Otherwise, it is possible, but not likely, that you will catch something from your herps.

Yeah, maybe I am just overworried. But what I really want to know is how do you guys handle your corns.
Do you let them climb on your clothes and not change? If it crawls on something, do you just leave it or do you clean it? Do all corns have salmonella or do they get it over time if they are poorly maintained? And is salmonella like a bacteria where when you get it once, you are immune to that strain of bacteria?
PS: Kathy Love, are you the author of the cornsnake book?

I wash my hands before & after handling my snakes. Before so I don't transfer daily grime or bacteria that could harm them & after because I have been known to only catch the hard to catch diseases. I have had the doctor give me 2 weeks worth of sipro (what they give you when you have been exposed to anthrax) because they didn't know what was wrong with me only that I was that sick.

I think that by our germ-a-phobia we are just creating super germs. Lysol & clorox products used every day (even many times a day) will be our doom! lol

::walks away carrying cardboard side proclaiming end of the world:: :grin01:

Preita, we posted at the same time lol!

lol thats because I got distracted mid-post

I still say DOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM lol

Super Breeding Bateria that is immune to mild antibiotics??
*Pours cup of water on Preita's head*
Lol, it is possible, but I don't think in the near future.

I don't make it 100% habit to wash my hands before I handle the snakes, and I never wash them afterwards (unless theres musk LOL.. ewwwwwy). Then again, my snakes are all over me and on my face etc, and yes, I kiss my snakes, they seem to like it (snake massage? hehe). I also have influenza (REAL influenza, stuck with it for up to a year according to the docs) so my immune system is.. well.. MIA right now. 4 months with basically no immune system and I haven't gotten salmonella yet *knocks on wood*. Now I'm not telling people to go out and start licking snakes to prove you can get salmonella from them.. though if you do, I will laugh at you =P

SuperSnake said:

Super Breeding Bateria that is immune to mild antibiotics??
*Pours cup of water on Preita's head*
Lol, it is possible, but I don't think in the near future.

Click to expand...

The future is now. It is happening. Not with things that could totally kill us yet. But it is. Our over medication of America is partly to blame.

Risk of salmonella...

*climbs up onto my high horse*

While salmonella is associated with reptiles, as it is with most animals, the risk varies with whom you ask. PETA and ARO’s promote the salmonella issue as the justification for banning reptiles as pets so don’t believe everything you read.

Here is one good page on the salmonella issue:

http://www.reptilia.org/News/salmonella.htm

I would say though that it is irresponsible to allow children under 5, or people will lessened immune systems (elderly, chemotherapy patients…) to handle any reptiles.

*Pours a bucket of water on Preita's head*
Clam down Preita, if they grow resistant to our antibiotics now, we will develop stronger ones. lol. Here, drink this.
*Hands Preita a cup of water with dissolved sedatives*

PS: Is Kathy Love, the one is the forums, the author of the book?

Yes she is.. *hugs Kathy* gives us really good advice all the time =D

Lol, PETA members are crazy.
CanadianMike, do you clean everything your snake touches or what, like the carpet. And if it crawled on your shirt, would you change it? LOL, I'm paranoid about germs.
BURN THEM ALL!!!
:flames: Germ

I don't need any sedatives (but since your offering ). I was just subjected to to much disinfectant in the last two years (with good cause. 2 people in my family went through chemo) but I have a thing against Lysol. I don't get it, you just spray it on things but don't wipe it off?

I’m probably not the best person to ask as I don’t usually follow my own advice I do was after my hands and tools which were used for cleaning but normal handling I don’t. I wash my hands after handling the tortoises but not the snakes or lizards. So im not that diligent...

The salmonella issue is more complicated then people try and make it out to be. Salmonella comes in a variety of strains not all of which are particularly harmful to humans. The strains (I think there are three) found in reptiles are not the same found in poultry which are more harmful (ie. multiply faster…and so on). I’m not trying to down play the risk of salmonella but if you have a normal immune system and don’t ingest excrement (which contain the highest concentrations of salmonella) its unlikely you could ingest enough bacterium to overcome you body’s defenses.

Yes, it is me.

I would never change clothes after handling herps, unless they pooped on me, or I had been working with sick animals. I am more concerned about passing something from one snake to another, than to myself. So whenever I have any quarantined animals, I always take care of them last. Then, by the time I go to the other animals again, it is another day and I am all cleaned up again.

I think most herps carry Salmonella just like people all carry E. coli, among others. In the normal numbers usually found, it does not often cause a problem. But you should consider it to always be there. If you were already sick from some other infection, even the low numbers of bacteria could affect you adversely. Since it hasn't bothered me in all of these years, I don't personally worry about it much.