Small Turtles May Carry Salmonella

[rdd1952]

I'm not a turtle person but just saw this on Yahoo and thought it was interesting. I didn't realize it was against the law for them to sell turtles less than 4" and has been since 1975. I swear Ive seen much smaller ones than that in stores before. My grandson even had a couple a few years ago that couldn't have been more than an inch or 2.

 

[channing]

I'm not a turtle person but just saw this on Yahoo and thought it was interesting. I didn't realize it was against the law for them to sell turtles less than 4" and has been since 1975. I swear Ive seen much smaller ones than that in stores before. My grandson even had a couple a few years ago that couldn't have been more than an inch or 2.

yup if a store get caught selling them they can lose their permit. its because the gov thinks that little kids put them in there mouths an dget sick that way

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Yeah thats been like that for a really long time. Apparently a few kids succumbed to samonella at some point due to a small pet turtles. People still get them out of state. Florida sells hatchling turtles all the time. But Marlyand is one of the few states that puts restrictions on this. Just depends on the state, it's not a restirction in all states. It's also 4 inches wide, not 4 inches long, just fyi.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Wish I knew this when I got my turtle.

He was the size of a quarter!

 

[darkwolf29a]

http/www.salmonella.org/info.html

How does Salmonella cause disease?
After Salmonella is eaten it passes through the stomach to the intestine. Here, it binds to the wall of the intestine, and through some special proteins that it makes in response to the particular conditions in the intestine it actually penetrates the barrier between us and the outside. Once it has gained access to our insides, it is taken to the liver or spleen. For most other bacteria, this journey would kill them, however Salmonella has evolved mechanisms to prevent our immune system from doing its job efficiently. In the liver, the Salmonella can grow again, and be released back into the intestine.

Of course, not all of the Salmonella pass through the intestinal wall, and many of them are expelled from the intestine in the diarrhea. In regions with poor sanitation, these bacteria can than survive in the soil or in rivers and infect the next person, cow, chicken or mouse that comes along.

I'm not too worried, since I don't eat stuff off the floor. LOL Salmonella has been linked to typhoid and food poisoning only. If you eat bad meat, you can get sick, but it's not going to kill you. In small children and the elderly, it doesn't take much to do the damage, as they are more suseptable to any outbreak of anything. And children more so, since they'll put stuff they shouldn't in their mouths. So, if you keep a child from eating a turtle, they should be fine.

So...you should be fine with your turtle, just don't try and eat him or, at least, cook him first. LOL