The fact that there is any debate to this is reason enough for me to avoid using it. There seems to be a general consensous and whether its based on fact or it's "juju" I would prefer not to test that theory on my animals. That's just me, if it works for you and you have seen no ill effects from it, that's awesome and it makes for an interesting debate - but when people ask if Pine is okay to use on snakes, the answer is, ..maybe? To me that's not good enough, if there's any question, why risk it?