When we were young we enjoyed our furry companions, but in today’s society exposing your children to the joys of owning their own pet, in some cases, may also mean exposing them to injuries and infections. Parents need to be very aware of the dangers—which include salmonella infection and even monkey pox—of owning a nontraditional pet such as rodents, reptiles, monkeys, and more.

The most recent report on this subject was published in October by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in the most recent issue of Pediatrics. The study’s co-author Dr. Robert Frenck, a pediatrics professor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and a member of the AAP committee of infectious diseases, said that this report is the first comprehensive statement on this particular topic. “Nontraditional pets are becoming more traditional, and nontraditional pets can expose kids to disease they otherwise might not be exposed to…. If parents are thinking about having these nontraditional pets, they may want to talk to a veterinarian and/or pediatrician first to see if there is any real concern.”

The number of exotic animals that are in the United States has nearly doubled since 2002. For example, approximately 40,000 households in America now harbor hedgehogs, while 4.4 million homes have reptiles, according to the new report. A professor of the pediatric infectious diseases at the University Of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Dr. Charles Miller, added that from the standpoint of public education and from the standpoint of both family practitioners and pediatricians, this subject of owning exotic pets is very important.