How Young is Too Young??

[PythonGirl]

As you all probably know, We have a 7 month old little girl. I was just wondering how young is too young to let her start touching (only touching not grabbing, not chewing only touching) the snakes. I am thinking she should be at least like 4 or 5, is that overly excessive?

She Loves Our Fuzzy Cha-Cha (real name is sasha but some how turned into Cha-cha the cat)

[Addicted]

How big would the snake be?That's the major factor here.small snakes would be alright right now,but larger ones could do serious damager in seconds.

Jason.

[PythonGirl]

Ohh no no I mean I don't even let Dustin get Karma (our only giant) out if she is upstairs. I am talking like, Our baby BCI, or Baby BRB or our Baby Dum. Nothing Big at all.

	Boa Constrictor Imperator

	Brazilian Rainbow Boa

[Addicted]

Then let her interact with them now,What could happen while supervised?

[JuliusSqueezer]

Her greatest risk is that her immune system isn't ready to handle salmonella poisoning yet. Humans under the age of 21 years are highly susceptible to contracting salmonella poisoning. For small children, the dehydration associated with the illness can be deadly. Salmonella is a natural enzyme found in the digestive tract so it's not a question of IF they have it. They have it. Getting sick from exposure is the only question. With that in mind, it's every bit as easy to give your baby salmonella from handling the snake and then the child so scrubbing hands between is important. The only way really to get it is feces to mouth contact. If the snake has crawled through feces and is handled, it's only going to give anyone salmonella if parts of the snake that are "dirty" or your hands go into your mouth. If you let your kids touch the snakes, they have to scrub their hands when they are done. Salmonella btw is more prevalent in the feces of young reptiles. Turtles over 4 inches, snakes over 2 years or so have less to offer and are less likely to get sick from exposure to it themselves. Humans over 21 generally just get mild to moderate to severe stomach cramps and a bad case of the runs. Immuno compromised people or people who haven't fully developed their immune systems are at much higher risk of serious complications. Very young or elderly people...people with HIV...can get in really bad shape really quick....so be careful and keep things sterile around the baby where reptiles are involved...or raw chicken, eggs etc...and currently fresh tomatoes.

[Addicted]

It's amazing i survived to be 30.There was no worry about this stuff when i was a kid.

[PythonGirl]

Yeah, I donno I want to let her touch them because when ever we have one out she watches like a hawk but I dont want to possibly kill her from Salmonella

[JuliusSqueezer]

Make sure you scrub your hands after handling the reptiles too...especially the young reptiles but to be safe...ALL reptiles...and their cages or anything they touch. Hand sanitizer...you guys should be buying by the case right now

[PythonGirl]

Hand sanitizer is bad for you because it kills the natural oils your hands produce and the amount of alcohol in them is harmful to babys. So we go through a LOT of hand soap.

[ssjsmits]

I got through hand sanitizer like it's going out of style.