Tiny pet turtles, unassuming and possibly shy, are lousy with salmonella poisoning. These fetid reptiles have caused over 100 illness this year, mostly in young children. The actual number of turtle-related illnesses is thought to be much higher.
Although French Turtle Pox, Turtle Leg and Riding-Turtle Madness were completely wiped out in the 19th Century, small turtles, under four inches, are still considered a menace. The CDC has banned the sale of tiny, beshelled reptiles in the United States and urges people not to buy them even if they are affordable or cute.
Nancy Reagen urges kids to just say no to small turtles. (note: this may not be true.)
The biggest problem in this epidemic is that people don't even know that they can get salmonella from a turtle. So these kids get sick, recover, then go out and touch more turtles and the cycle begins anew. Nearly, 90% of turtles carry salmonella, fella. And now you know.
Some kids are putting the turtles in their mouths. Maybe their parents should institute a no pets in mouth rule.
If you touch a turtle and get sick go see a doctor, a local doctor. Find one here!
Nonsense:
When I was a kid living on a farm, the neighbor boy, Heinrich, trained a Shetland pony to climb inside of his mouth. He would keep the horse in his mouth for hours at a time, often revealing it to the other children at school. Everyone got a kick out of this even the teacher! At lunch he'd let the horse out so he could eat his meatloaf. One day, during a game of dodge ball in P.E. class, Henreich was hit by a red 4-square ball in stomach, and he swallowed that horse. He didn't get sick or anything. He just wasn't very popular any more. A few years later, he bought a llama and trained it to make prank phone calls, but it just wasn't the same.
