(10-08-2012, 12:39 PM)Fishbone Wrote: Manda just hit the nail on the head. All reptiles naturally have salmonella in their digestive tracts. The difference with turtles, its that they defecate in their water, and if not cleaned regularly, the water basically turns into a breeding ground for the salmonella bacteria, and then the turtle, swimming in the water, its covered in it. This would rarely ever happen with other reptiles.
Yup, this right here, thank you so much. Best way to avoid this is good clean husbandry, and a bit of common sense. Get a nice filtration system (I use a zoomed filter for my turtles, but use what ever you want.)