You are very correct. We can't really tell what the health problems are caused by, but I think it's also possible that people go longer without cleaning cages with pine because it holds the smell better than aspen, from my experience anyway.Originally Posted by snakesRkewl
All valid points and if it works for you then who am I to refute it
I have seen too many people who use kiln dried pine and had respiratory issues
so I chose and continue to choose to use aspen and incur the added expense.
I breed for pets also, I can't/won't take chances with $15 rats sneezing before they go to their new homes since I give 30 day health guarantees on all my pet rats.
Your completely correct as to their ammonia build up being the biggest cause of respiratory issues,
clean tubs goes a long way towards keeping them healthy.
So the correlation of respiratory issues with rats could be more related to the cage cleaning frequency than the bedding itself.
