Salmonella and Pet Mice, Hamsters, Rats etc.

I have happy childhood memories of our pet red-eared turtle, who swam around in a clear-plastic aquarium and caught some rays under a plastic palm tree. (Like most of his petshop and dimestore colleagues, he likely died from neglect or accident and was ignominiously flushed down the toilet -- though my memory is hazy at this point.) Once the authorities discovered those turtles can carry dangerous Salmonella bacteria, it became impossible to buy the little fellas in the local petshop.

Now the alarm is being raised about people getting sick from salmonella picked up from pet rodents, including mice, hamsters and rats. Solution: wash hands after handling these and other exotic pets, including birds.