No Exotics Recommended for Children

[Xeikeness]

Food + poop = no

However, a little dirt or mud, no huge deal. A few bugs, no huge deal. I've had my fair share of bugs flapping their bothersome little selves up my nose, or being skewered by nettles or sticks while chasing something through the underbrush. Washing hands is generally something I only do before meals.

However, I always use hand sanitizer before and after handling any animal - not because I'm worried about getting sick, but because I'm worried about passing something on to MY animals. I had a dog once that came down with really bad kennel cough because I was a complete dork and was helping a neighbor treat her dog for it, then came home and cuddled my dog without changing my clothes.

Things happen, but my point, and I think Ice's point(correct me if I'm wrong) is that if everyone lives their lives as though germs have machine guns and lurk invisibly under every napkin, then when a big bad germ finally does come along we're SOL.

[RevMojo]

Clearly you all need to read Parasite Rex (since Raze isn't around to say it).

[Xeikeness]

My mom says she thinks I have a tapeworm.

Other than that false accusation, and this one time I had lice in kindergarten, I'm proud to say I'm parasite-free, and have been for most of my life. LOL

[RevMojo]

Originally Posted by Xeikeness

My mom says she thinks I have a tapeworm.

Other than that false accusation, and this one time I had lice in kindergarten, I'm proud to say I'm parasite-free, and have been for most of my life. LOL

I thought you were married....

[Xeikeness]

Nah, just engaged. If anything, I'm the parasite in that relationship. :P

[filly]

While I agree that children should wash their hand, I think it's utterly ridiculous to post this garbage. If they want to worry, they should check out these day cares and all the sick, snotty little kids that crap, sneeze and slobber all over everything and share so many diseases. I guarantee you there are WAY more sick children from those places than anyone ever gets from exotics. I've dealt with exotics for many many years and although I've heard of salmonella poisoning, I've never seen any small children get sick from them.

I would also love to see their data as it seems in the article that they are speculating that kids get sick and have no real data to back up this article, just the hersay from a bunch of people who have a PHD behind their name. I wonder how reliable those studies are and how many kids of the 4 million homes actually get sick from exotics, rather than other small children, etc.

[HARTSOCK]

Originally Posted by Xeikeness

Things happen, but my point, and I think Ice's point(correct me if I'm wrong) is that if everyone lives their lives as though germs have machine guns and lurk invisibly under every napkin, then when a big bad germ finally does come along we're SOL.

No I agree with Ice as well....think I got that a little muddled in my last post there. We have become too fearful of everything "germ related".