I'm not an expert, I don't have any fancy letters behind my name. For the most part, I'm not even called Mr, so take this advice for what you paid for it.
If the general consensus in a hobby or industry has driven everyone away from a product, is it worth the risk to prove that you were right or wrong? I'm probably a little older than most here and I did use pine years and years ago, but I don't now. I didn't lose an animal, I heard stories, but didn't change. I heard a few more stories and thought about changing. I heard even more stories and decided it was time to change. You never know what they use in the production of some products. Maybe it wasn't the oils in pine, but a chemical that draws the oils out of the wood. Maybe it is the oils in pine. Who knows?
But what I can tell you, the commercial dealers won't use pine and thats good enough for me. When you're talking about bedding 3,000+ snakes in aspen instead of pine, there is a tremendous amount of added expense. One that most people in the business would save, if they thought it was in the best interest of their bottom line. But not if it endangers their product.
Like with most things in life, do what you want. Use whatever bedding you want. Feed your snakes whatever you want, keep them at this or that temperature if you want. But I'd rather get my knowledge from the sweat and hard work of people that have BIG money tied up into their business. Because I know they will do what's best for their business and that means their snakes too.
Jim Smith
