Quote Originally Posted by PghBall View Post
My oldest male breeder (purchased him back in the fall of 08 along with his brother) just passed about 2 weeks ago (old age). And I still have one of my original females I started my colony with. Both spent their entire lives on kiln dried pine. Both are/were well over 2 years old. But to answer your question, mice do not stay in my possession long dead or alive, unless you count the days the field mice sit in my garbage can after the trap snaps their necks. I only feed rats
Okay. My only point being, I wish there was some comprehensive evidence on long term kiln dried dust free pine use and rodents. And there really isn't

I know people use the pellets, and consider that to be 100% safe, so I can only imagine that if the pellets are safe (being dried, baked, and dust free) then the treated shavings (dried, baked, dust free) would also be safe. . .

I feel like the negatives are not strong enough to rule out pine at the moment, for me. I'm about to run out of aspen, and if the feed store doesn't get the shipment of specialty aspen I'm hoping they will, then I'm going to get the kiln dried dust free horse pine, and see if there are any changes in my mousery. As of now, it has been MONTHS since my last URI in any of the rodents, and it was caused by cedar I sprinkled in to kill off mites.

So starting fresh, I hope to try pine, and see if I notice any differences in the way my mice live, and die.