No Hamsters or Exotic Pets for Young Children

No Hamsters or Exotic Pets for Young Children

October 6, 2008 ·

Per the Florida Times-Union:

CHICAGO — Warning: young children should not keep hedgehogs as pets — or hamsters, baby chicks, lizards and turtles, for that matter — because of risks for disease.

That’s according to the nation’s leading pediatricians’ group in a new report about dangers from exotic animals.

Besides evidence that they can carry dangerous and sometimes potentially deadly germs, exotic pets may be more prone than cats and dogs to bite, scratch or claw — putting children younger than 5 particularly at risk, the report says.

Young children are vulnerable because of developing immune systems plus they often put their hands in their mouths.

Yes, parents, children do touch and/or eat the waste products of freely-roaming reptiles. This is bad for children. Touching an animal infected with salmonella and putting little fingers in mouth is bad, too. Sheesh. And every kid should have a hamster to learn about the pain of slashed fingers from sharp little hamster teeth.

Don’t forget about litter box sampling and pet food eating! When my kids were tiny, my grandmother was VERY upset when tiny daughter was discovered eating out of the dog food bowl, mostly because she (grandma) loved her little poodle more than she did little people. With dog food ingredients coming from China now, I can see where this could be much more dangerous, not to mention that dogs do not always take kindly to having their food snatched by a human puppy, and they may discipline pushy youngsters with their teeth.

Seriously, I find it incomprehensible that supposedly responsible parents do not realize that immature immune systems cannot cope as well to environmental contamination from exotic pets as do adults.

Al I have is a cat and dog and I try to keep them both as far away as possible from my six month old, simply becuase you can never be too sure.

Exotic pets, or any other type of pet are a total no no for me until my baby is at least six years old.

I think it is best to keep younger children away from pets, especially exotic kinds that can be unpredictable. Even a well-behaved dog can react differently when a young child decides to pull on the fur, for example.

Well this one makes a lot of sense. Those types of animals do carry many things and children seem to want to handle them all the time. This would keep children from possibly getting sick.

This is very true. Small animals like hamsters might be carrying diseases on them. The same goes for pet mice and I think pet rats. But the thought of having a pet mouse or rat makes me shiver. I hate them.

thank you for sharing this information.
as a parent of children that love pets, I really appreciate it.

our daughter has a hamster. she is 10 now. should I do anything about it? it would break her heart if I took it away.

we also have a three year old in the house, and a seven year old

what do you suggest?

Intelligent warning. We should always be watchful even with our well-loved domestic pets such as cats and dogs because we really don't know what may possibly come up if they were hurt unintentionally. Small kids are likewise unaware, and be kept guided.

When I was a small child I had a hamster and I never had any problems. Hamsters are in fact very popular pets in Holland for families with young children.

I'll be the odd one out and say that I think the problem with immune systems today is that we try to sterilize everything and anything and kids are underexposed to things that would help build up their immune system. Children grow up on farms every day with little to no problems and they are exposed to many different types of animals on a daily basis.

lilymom24 wrote:

I'll be the odd one out and say that I think the problem with immune systems today is that we try to sterilize everything and anything and kids are underexposed to things that would help build up their immune system. Children grow up on farms every day with little to no problems and they are exposed to many different types of animals on a daily basis.

I have to agree with you, to a certain extent.

Challenges to the immune system build resistance. Keeping the environment too clean leaves kids open to every infection known to man.

The problem with pets, however, is that there may not be medications that will kill off an infection once it is established in a child's system.

Very dangerous!

That is very interesting. I can see how they do bite easier than a dog or cat. My daughter has a guinea pig and it bites if you hold your hand in front of it's mouth. I wonder if they are in that category too.

I just read an article and it stated that hamster makes a great pet but it is shocking to read over here that it can be so dangerous to have hamster as a pet. I am very fond of this tiny cute animal but I think i will have to drop the idea of having one.

My kids are always chasing snakes, salamanders, crickets, and grasshoppers spring thru fall and we've had no problems. I would think the animals in the wild would be more likely to pass disease than a domestic pet. We try to make sure to practice good hygeine w/ lots of hand washing on and off throughout the day but its impossible to make sure they don't touch anything. We save injured birds and mice as well. We wear gloves for certain things but again, its not always possible.

i remember growing up that most kids around 7 or 8 got their first hamster. And some five o six year-olds had terrapins. Seems like everyone is going phobic. What about the kids who live out in the country and bring home baby animals to keep. we never get sick from them.

julei