The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned people to not “kiss or cuddle your turtle” after a salmonella outbreak linked to small turtles has sickened at least 26 people across 11 states.
Public health officials announced that they are investigating a “multistate outbreak” of salmonella linked to small turtles after dozens of people have fallen ill in recent months, according to the CDC.
I recently rescued a baby RES from falling into my crawl space access. Little guy was all dried up and barely moving. I’ve owned reptiles in the past and my wife loves turtles so we decided to keep it. A lot of research and learning was done to figure out what it needed and how the tank needs to be kept along with all of the chemical balances. Both of my children were made aware that they need to wash their hands before and after handling the turtle. There is a lot of tank maintenance weekly. We’ve had it for over 3 months and no one has gotten sick.
MOST reptiles carry salmonella which is why you should wash your hands before and after handling. It bothers me that they say turtles with shells smaller than 4" are worse. The only reason that they say that is because smaller turtles are cute and more likely to be picked up by children. A turtle under 4" is not more or less likely to give you salmonella than a larger turtle.