What they say on substrate

Not trying to say anyone is doing anything wrong. BUT

I was checking out web sites and forums specificly for rodent PET owners. Most of them say that you should NEVER use PINE or CEDAR... for the same reasons you aren't supposed to use them for snakes.

They are as serious about this subject as we are with our snakes.

Just a heads up. I know there are a lot of people on this site that do use pine chips or pellets.


Mike

Yeah, its terrible that pet stores even sell pine/cedar.. I only use aspen for my rats (pets) for the same reasons I only use aspen for my snakes.

I've used pine for years now and I've never had a problem!

The main problem for pine (shavings) and mainly ceder are the oils and saps that can irritate the lungs and respiritory tracts of rodents, and also cause liver problems.

http://www.equinepine.com/why.html

Quote:

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The 100% kiln dried pine is sterile, as well as mold and bacteria free. Kiln drying also removes the natural oils, eliminating unhealthy aromatic hydrocarbons found in unprocessed shavings. There are no contaminants, such as those in products containing hardwoods.

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The pine pellets I use are kiln dried, effectivly removing most (but not all) of the harmful oils, acids and fumes of the pine. Aspen is a hardwood and does not have these same properties as soft wood shavings, so aspen shavings are great, but the dustiness does not appeal to me or the rats.

Woody pet is also made from a soft wood, and they claim the same effectivness for removing 'dangerous aromatic hydrocarbons (along with resins, oils, tars, acids and water'

I use the Equine Fresh pellets and am extremly happy with them. I would gladly use aspen pellets, but it is not cost effective to do so, or available.


If you hate the idea of using any soft wood, I recommend checking out some alternatives like hay pellets, newpaper pellets etc...
http://www.greenpet.com/prodaspen.htm
http://www.leithpetwerks.com/prodpag...rod_code=CS200
http://www.oxbowhay.com/Shop/showPro...?PRODUCT_NO=59
http://www.airlitetx.com/critter_chips.htm
http://www.mtnmeadowspet.com/

I have been also using the Equine Pine, with no problems. I had some sneezing and myco flareups while using pine shavings. Now that I switched over to the kiln-dried pellets, the rattie sneezies have stopped.

I use TLC horse bedding, I am thinkig of switching my snakes to it too as it has less dust than anything I have seen, only the loose stuff, not the compacted... Its pretty cheap and sifts too easy... LOL.