Did you know that you could get sick from a pet reptile? In the 1960s, little turtles were very popular as pets in the United States. Then doctors discovered that these turtles sometimes were sick with an infection called salmonella. People who touched the turtles could catch this infection and become seriously ill. In 1975,the U.S. government banned these turtles as prts. Now doctors think that people, especially small children,can get the same infection from another kind of pet: the iguana. The iguana is a reptile like a turtle and has recently become a favorite pet in many American homes.