Can you catch salmonella from reptiles?

It’s long been believed that all reptiles carry salmonella.

However, an increasing body of evidence suggests salmonella isn’t as prevalent as previously thought. Veterinarian and pathology laboratory tests reveal that few reptiles present with salmonella infections.

We spoke to keepers attending a UK reptile show and we didn’t find anyone who had caught salmonella from reptiles.

Of course, catching salmonella from reptiles is possible, so good hygiene is always recommended. But it appears the risk of catching it from your companion reptile is highly unlikely.

It shouldn’t matter whether your pet is considered exotic, but depending on where you live it could make a big difference. In some countries and provinces, exotic animals are banned. And, depending on which definition of ‘exotic’ is being used, it could mean that commonly kept pet species are considered illegal without good reason.

Norway had a complete ban on keeping reptiles between 1977 and 2017, but many people simply ignored it.

Then, in 2017 the Norwegian Government imposed a short whitelist of approved reptile species. We spoke to Svein Fosså of NZB to find out how the whitelist is working out in Norway.

Animal rights campaigners traditionally attack reptile keeping in one of three ways.

But they have begun to use a new weapon that's even more dangerous and could ban the keeping of all but a few species of reptiles.

Rob Pilley from Rob's Wild Adventures explains how crested geckos are just one example of private keepers doing heroic work to further our knowledge about reptiles. It’s fair to say that private keepers probably saved the crested gecko from extinction.

Slimy, Horrible Creatures tells the story of how a tiny minority of extremists hijacked the law-making process, and how the result can affect every reptile keeper on the planet.