Warning on exotic pets

London - Exotic pets, particularly iguanas, snakes, lizards and turtles, pose a serious health risk to infants and young children…

London - Exotic pets, particularly iguanas, snakes, lizards and turtles, pose a serious health risk to infants and young children, doctors warned today. The reptiles are carriers of salmonella infections. "Exotic reptiles are unsuitable pets to share the home environment with infants," Dr Debasis Sanyal, of the Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Manchester, said in a report in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.