We had one for a very short amount of time...could never get it to stop being scared of us so could not pick him up without gloves. He was very cute but not for us...we returned him to the man we bought him from.
Salmonella risks involved. www.webmd.com/news/20050505/cdc-pet-rodents-can-carry-salmonella My son wanted a pet turtle from MBSC when we were down. Since they can carry salmonella, I said no. We went with a hermit crab instead.
We've had an aquatic turtle for years with no issues. As long as you follow proper handling and sanitation, it's no biggie. But my son was never one to put his hands in his mouth a lot. He was probably 8 when we got it from MB. We follow strict rules about handling the turtle. Hands are washed afterwards with antibacterial soap, hot water and then followed up with a generous dose of alcohol based hand santitzer. She's been a good pet overall.
I had a hedgehog for several years. He was a pretty cool pet. It did take a while for him to relax enough around me to be able to pick him up without him "puffing up". He loved french fries and mashed potatoes As I recall, he wasn't hard to take care of. No harder than a hamster, really.
Yes he was just a baby, but was going to need LOTS of handling/attention/time to get him past his fear of us, and we had a preschooler at the time that needed lots of attention and time so it just wasn't going to work. Other than that he was really neat and easy to care for.
