Nepco aspen SHAVINGS

[hungba]

Anybody used those big 8 cu ft bags of nepco brand aspen SHAVINGS?

I use shredded aspen now but I can get the Nepco brand SHAVINGS (like chips) cheaper.

Now, I bought a bag of smaller size nepco aspen shavings just to see but apparently, the big 8 cu ft paper bags are different, the flakes much bigger and coarser, so I've been told. Anyone used those, and can it cause problems with feeding, breeding etc?

[hungba]

No one has used those?

[magicmed]

I've never used them personally but it sounds like you're talking about the stuff people use in their yards. I would think that the larger, sharper chips of wood wouldnt be the best bet. I wouldn't only worry about feeding dangers but risk of scratches. Also if it's manufactured for yards it may be treated with pesticides? I don't know if we're talking about the same stuff though.

[hungba]

Not for yards. I'm talking about this stuff for lab rat bedding:

http://www.labbedding.com/aspenshavings.html

From the website they have "shredded" and "lab grade". From what I can make out they come in the same looking bag, really confusing. I think what they are selling here for cheap is the "lab grade".

The company also packaged SUPPOSEDLY the same product in small bags for the pet trade, as seen here:

http://www.nep-co.com/products/aspen_5%5E0_econo_pack

So I bought a bag of the pet trade stuff to test it out. But then a friend of mine told me not to get the big bags, because they were different than the small bags, supposedly much coarser and bigger pieces, and that he knew someone who had problems with it. I've heard the product was different in the different bags from quite a few people. So I settled on using this:

http://www.americanexcelsior.com/woo...ding/aspen.php

Which is a great product and cheaper than pet stuff. But as my snake collection grew, I keep thinking the Nepco because here the price is almost the same but for almost double size bag.

I then found out the friend who told me not to buy the Nepco big bags was using it himself! When I confronted him about it, he said something like "Yes, I told you not to use it. But that doesn't mean I don't use it myself." So I wanted to ask him further why he told me not to use it, and now the sucker won't pick up his phone.

As my current bag of american excelsior aspen is almost used up, I thought I'd ask here instead if anyone knew. If not then I guess I will just order the more expensive stuff I currently use then.