hamsters dangerous to pregnancy??

[LunaMoom]

My mother,who is the type to call every day and tell me some new way I am endangering my unborn child, calls me the other day and says hamsters are deadly to fetuses and pregnant women. My 8 year old brought home a class hamster for Xmas break and we are suppose to bring it back to school this evening,and my mother insists I should not even be in the car with it. Look,she is crazy,I know that but I wonder if anybody has ever heard anything like this before?

[mrzmeg]

Hamsters and many other small animals can carry Toxoplasmosis, which can cause miscarriage, premature birth, blindness, and other problems. It's a pretty small risk from what I've read. I've heard lots of stories of women having healthy pregnancies, even though they had pets that were potential carriers.
I had pet rats when I got pregnant (they can also be carriers). Rather than worry about it for my entire pregnancy, once I found out, I found them new homes. I'm just too much of a worry-wort.

[LunaMoom]

ah,toxoplasmosis,just like the cat. Ok,not to worrried because I'm not handling the hamster and he's just been here 3 weeks,also we have a cat and my midwife said those who have cats are most likely already immune to toxoplasmosis anyway. See,I asked her if it was toxoplasmosis she was thinking of but she said it was different. My mom can be very alarmist so I never know if I should take her "warnings" seriously. She is convinced the baby will strangle when I wear him in a sling,that he'll get cancer from no circ,on and on. Thanks.

[XM]

Maybe she was thinking of HantaVirus? LOL, as long as that hamster was'nt free range prior to it's career as class pet I would'nt worry!

XM

[AdinaL]

And as for Hantavirus - well even if the hamster lived on the great wide open prairie - you still don't need to worry about that. It is only carried by Deer Mice. It is really tough to get Hantavirus. The only death from it has been in Southern Colorado and it was a guy who went and basically took a blower to clean out his barn that hadn't been touched in 20 year and blew a 20 years of mouse poop into the air and inhaled it. (I had to clean out a warehouse recently that CDC people were worried about the mice - so we got to find out all the precautions) So fear not - I think you should be fine riding in the car with the hamster.

[MelPatel]

There may be a small risk but there is in just about everything you do. I own 17 rat and is pregnant and know many poeple that have small pets and there babies all have been fine. I would say the big thing is to keep the cages clean and were glove then cleaning but for you I think you will just be fine.
Melissa

[lilyka]

I have never heard of anyone getting toxoplasmosis from thier hamsters. Just cats (although I don't doubt that hampsters can carry it). We had a hampster at the beginning of my preg and at the end and i and my baby are just fine. I even got bit several times by said hampsters (then why did I get another one ?: )

[XM]

Lilyka, you got another hamster because they are furry and oh-so-cute! Either that or you are a glutton for punishment

[Helix]

well when i was pregnant i woke up one night and saw about 37 hamsters outside my bedroom window, laughing at me. when my baby was born she had a birthmark shaped like a hamster. yep, it is better to have nothing to do with those furry fluffballs.

ha ha, sorry, couldn't resist.