Pine Pellets vs Aspen

[PyramidPythons]

On a side not way to contradict your self. You say DONT use pine but yet you used it. Using pine for your rodents HAS NOT ONE ill effect to the snakes. I and many many who breed thier own rodents use pine pellets or shavings for YEARS with no problems.

Has not one ill effect to the snake, BUT, what about the rats? Oh wait....you don't care about those, they're just food. Yes, I did use it...and that was long before I found out how harmful pine and cedar can be for small animals. Maybe you don't give a crap about the existence of your breeders, since all they're going to be is food. I'm not like that, nor could I be. Pine and cedar ARE harmful to small rodents. It might not appear so, and some rodents might actually deal well with it, but the truth of the matter is that it does cause respiratory and skin problems. If you don't believe me, I'll look up several of the sites I found when I researched this.

Is pine cheaper? Yes. Does it mask the smell better? Yes. Why? Because of the Phenols in it.....and those are what are so bad. Just because something "works" better doesn't mean it IS better for your pet. That's why pet stores are still selling pine as a viable substrate for your pet.....because it's cheap to make and it makes them lots of money.

I stand by what I said. I tried the pellets and they were horrible. My rats were uncomfortable and the stench was FAR worse than anything I'd had to deal with before. I went on a research to find something better and THAT was when I found out that pine/cedar are bad news. But most people don't care about the rodents they are using as breeders for food, so whatever. I'm just not like that.