Pine Pellets vs Aspen

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Originally Posted by puckett26

Is it possible you could list these sites? I would honestly like to see this.

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They wont produce a proven study about it being bad for rodents at all since there isnt one. Pine is safe to use mice and rats period.

I have rats kept on pine pellets as pets who are 4 years old. They never sneezed due to the pine but random sneezes as all animals do. So to say i dont care about my breeders or rats is baloney. I take care of them with the utmost respect due to what they were bred for i make sure their life is as comfortable as possible.

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Originally Posted by puckett26

Is it possible you could list these sites? I would honestly like to see this.

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Sure. Here are just a few of the ones I found back when I did the research. There are NUMEROUS sites out there that express the dangers of housing your rodents on pine and cedar. My favorite line out of all of these sites is this one:

"Several people have claimed that their pet rodents have always been kept on pine or cedar with no adverse effects. However, animals with elevated liver enzymes do not show any symptoms, and unless these animals received full autopsies at death with no sign of enlarged livers or liver disfunction, respiratory infection, or altered immune system, how can they claim that the pine or cedar did not affect them? " Source

I have been just as guilty of housing my rodents on pine as the next guy or gal, but through research, I found that what I was doing, might actually be HARMING my rodents. Feeders or not, pets or not.....they have a right to live the best life they can while they do.

The Rat Fan Club
AFRMA
About.com
Ratsrule.com <---has more links.

Maybe there isn't "scientific" evidence to back up the dangers of pine, but with all of the testing that has been done and whatnot....are you willing to take a chance that it's not? I know one thing....I certainly wouldn't want to be one of your rats.

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Originally Posted by Becca Granger

Sure. Here are just a few of the ones I found back when I did the research. There are NUMEROUS sites out there that express the dangers of housing your rodents on pine and cedar. My favorite line out of all of these sites is this one:

"Several people have claimed that their pet rodents have always been kept on pine or cedar with no adverse effects. However, animals with elevated liver enzymes do not show any symptoms, and unless these animals received full autopsies at death with no sign of enlarged livers or liver disfunction, respiratory infection, or altered immune system, how can they claim that the pine or cedar did not affect them? " Source

I have been just as guilty of housing my rodents on pine as the next guy or gal, but through research, I found that what I was doing, might actually be HARMING my rodents. Feeders or not, pets or not.....they have a right to live the best life they can while they do.

The Rat Fan Club
AFRMA
About.com
Ratsrule.com <---has more links.

Maybe there isn't "scientific" evidence to back up the dangers of pine, but with all of the testing that has been done and whatnot....are you willing to take a chance that it's not? I know one thing....I certainly wouldn't want to be one of your rats.

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Those sites are based on the person posting its opinion. So to go around saying Pine is bad is not good on your end as you have nothing to back it up with Legitimate study.

If it was soo bad for rats to be on pine or mice on pine, then why is it that 99% of large breeders of rodents ALL use pine and never have problems with production or deaths. Hell i got rats who are 4 years old like i said kept on pine their whole lives.

Sorry but youll have to do better with the links as anyone can post information like that on a .com. I want to see ACTUAL scientific study proving its bad for them. You wont find any as labs use pine as well

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

You wont find any as labs use pine as well

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Apparently you didn't read any of those sites at all. :rolleyes: There are several links to reference material, studies and other info. Not only that, some of them address "labs using pine" and why most of them DON'T.

I use kiln dried pine shavings for my rats. I haven't had any problems with it. It is a very low dust, soft shaving. The rats build their nests with it and its just fine. I have only raised a couple dozen thousand rats on the stuff over the years. That is a pretty good track record.

Well after over a week of using this stuff, I gotta say that I've done a complete 180! I love this stuff! Pine pellets last twice as long as aspen, and actually destroy smells better the longer it is in use. Now if only I can find a cheaper source for it. I'll check around my area, I know we've got some feed stores around. Thanks for all that recommended this! :gj:

We use the wood pelets you can get for the wood stoves. I think they are $3.?? at home depo. We also put in a small hand full of shreaded aspen for them to start a nest.

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

These are just my opinion:
Pros: It takes much longer to smell bad that Aspen. A small amount goes a long way. The bags are smaller.

Cons: The dust will smother babies, so I have to add some pine or aspen. The dust!

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If you put toilet paper or paper towel rolls in,t he mice will shred them and make nests. The same goes for just adding the toilet paper/paper towels.

I use pine pellets, and it does make a huge difference in the odor of my mice. What I do to increase their comfort is add a little bit of carefresh under their hides. (Yes, my mice have the igloo hides). They just sleep in there, and use the carefresh as a bedding. It is nice for their babies too. A tiny bag of carefresh has lasted me quite a long time using it in this limited way.

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Originally Posted by boasandballs

We use the wood pelets you can get for the wood stoves. I think they are $3.?? at home depo. We also put in a small hand full of shreaded aspen for them to start a nest.

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This is exactly what I do as well, although I think mine are aspen pellets, $4 per 40 pound bag. I buy it at Menards.