Tractor Supply Pine Pellets smell Rancid??

I just opened a brand new bag of pine pellet bedding from Tractor Supply, their store brand. I expected the pleasant mild pine scent I've had with every other brand of pine pellet I've used. But no, it smells bad! It took me a minute to realize why the bad smell was familiar... it reminds me of the rancid smell that nuts and other oily stuff gets when it goes bad.

I've never used the Tractor Supply brand before. Is this typical? My rat colony is in my house, so odor control is important, and adding another bad smell is not desirable!

I also wonder why it smells that way in the first place? Is it even safe to use?

If any one uses the Tractor Supply brand pine pellets, I'd like to hear your experiences.

I dunno if it's ever smelled rancid ot me, maybe it's just your sence of smell. But there could be mold in the bag. I would take it back and smell a different bag. :P

It definitely has a different odor than just a pine shaving. I don't find that it smells unpleasant at all. I agree that you should take it back. If the second bag smells the same, it might just be your sense of smell. That stuff is amazing in rat tubs. My colony stays in my closet to so keeping the odor at bay is a must! I've had good results with a combination of this pellet, shavings, and changing/cleaning tubs twice a week.

I decided to take them back, get my money back, and try Southern States instead. I've already opened the new stuff from Southern States, and they smell fine. I've used at least 3 different brands of pine pellets before this, and my husband also thought they smelled bad, so I don't think it is just my sense of smell. I don't know if it was just a bad bag, or what, but I decided that at least for the moment, I'm going to avoid the issue and use a different brand.

I've never noticed the tsc horse pellets having much of an odor at all...if it was that bad, I would suspect something was rotting or molding inside it. I use a handful of the pellets in the bottom of all my cages and then put a thin layer of shavings on top and it works great.