Substrate question

[Skiploder]

Unless they have changed the bag, it does not say dried or kiln dried. I searched that entire bag searching for it. And yes, there are other ways to dry wood. Air-drying. That's why you have to make sure it specifies that it is kiln-dried.

Look at the link you sent me. Read the Description portion of the product. It say's dried.

Let's clear a few things up so that we all understand what the kiln drying process does - it does nothing more than reduce the total moisture % from 19 or 20 down to about 15. It does not remove ALL of the moisture - so do not expect your pine bedding to be moisture free. It does not remove all of the phenols - so do not expect your pine bedding to be phenol free. By the very description you gave, the TSC bedding is kiln dried.

Now about "air drying". Air drying actually produces a slightly superior bedding (2 to 4% more moisture reduction), sadly only a few very comparably expensive and non-commerically available manufacturers utilize these mostly custom and/or proprietary processes. There are also high temperature heat dried shavings, which are very dry, brittle and dusty AND, not easily obtained at your local feed store.

The pine shavings you buy at Petco, TS, Petsmart, Premium Pet Mart, Pet Club etc are all kiln dried. Some are even kiln dried and then nominally air dried.

Let's get back on point here. All bedding shavings are dried in some manner or another. 99% of them are kiln dried because it is the fastest and least expensive method of drying wood shavings.

However, it is not as effective as removing moisture and phenols as the other two methods which the vast majority of wood shaving purchasers never see for sale.

In the past, I had a line through an local equestrian center on JTS soft wood bedding - which is an air dried product. It was about double the cost (even in bulk) of buying Mallard Creek bedding and frankly, the differences were minimal. Slightly less odor and slightly drier. Not worth the added expense.