We've established that pine and cedar and aspne all contain phenols. What we haven't established is whether the phenols in pine pose a health risk to snakes.

What has also been established is that paper beddings - especially Carefresh, unlike wood bedding, do a piss-poor job of inhibiting the bacterial degradation of urine into ammonia.

Like phenols, ammonia has been implicated in all sorts of respiratory and other health ailments.

Sooooooo - while we're discussing the bugaboo that is pine, let's bring in the proponents of Carefresh and other paper beddings and ask if they've noticed an increase in health issues.

..........and let's pose some questions to the group: Keeping these things in mind - We can smell the phenols in pine. We can't smell the phenols in aspen. There are no phenols in paper beddings. Paper beddings are almost completely ineffective at inhibiting the conversion of urine into ammonia.

(1) What is the difference in phenol levels in pine and aspen? (Kids, don't go spouting BS that aspen doesn't contain phenols - they do. Not everything you read on the internet is true).

(2) At what level do phenols become a health hazard?

(3) Does that level kick in before the human olfactory system can detect it?

(4) Should the ability of a bedding to block or inhibit the conversion of urine to ammonia factor into bedding choice?

(5) If phenols are established as a health concern, and ammonia is established as a health concern - why do we demonize the purported phenol risks but blithely ignore those associated with ammonia?