Illness transfer

[ZippiesPal]

I suppose the list could be long, I am only looking for high liklehood, heavy hitters.

If I have a cold, could I give it to my cham? Could my cham get sick from other sick animals (non-reptile, non-amphibian), like a dog or a cat?

What about parasites?

If my cham had some illness or parisite now (no reason to suspect at this point), how would I clean the cage for his recovery, or would I need to?

There is a lot of info about MBD and other maladies, but I was wondering mainly about viruses, and parisites that could be transfered to or from my cham.

What about salmonilla?
I saw a photo slideshow and there is a guy actually kissing his cham. Its a tremendously cute picture, but isnt that playing Russian Salmonilla with a loaded cham?!?
What, really, are the salmonilla risks, and how (besides the obveyous(handwashing)) are they controlled?

I have a vet appointment set up for my little fellow in a couple weeks, but I wondered about contagions. I have a six month old CB Ambilobe Panther. He looks great, but is still pretty shy. He has been home for only about 30 hours.

 

[PardalisGirl]

My thoughts.......

My vet says that human and reptile viruses are not transferable. But parasites and Salmonella are. And they are highly transferable to dogs and cats who like to sniff anything in the home. Washing your hands is a must. I would not recommend kissing your chameleon anyway. You may think it's cute and fun, but the chameleon would consider it to be scarey and undesirable.

 

[ZippiesPal]

I never really wanted to Kiss my cham...

... maybe if he was on a stick on a hot summer day, like a green and red pop-sicle, I might just lick him.

 

[Lancecham]

... maybe if he was on a stick on a hot summer day, like a green and red pop-sicle, I might just lick him.

You got to love those "CHAMSICLES"

 

[ZippiesPal]

Another idea, since you liked the first one so much...

Another members female Vailed layed some eggs for the first time and posted wondering what to do with the eggs. I guess they might have some sentimental value.

I suggested a Chameleon omelett.

 

[Lancecham]

too funny....
How many do you need to make a good sized omelett....
No.. don't answer that..

 

[kinyonga]

There are some fungal infections, some bacteria that can be transferred from chameleons to people...but many of the things are species specific and won't transfer.

The best advice I can give is take precautions when cleaning the cages that you don't transfer these things and wash your hands well after handling your chameleon or cleaning its cage.

There have been other threads on this...so why not do a search for them?