I have two excellent reasons for never using pine bedding
1. I am allergic to that stuff, it is dusty and noxious, and when I work with it my eyes get red and watery and swell shut. I wheeze and have to use my inhaler. I used to live in Pomona NJ. Try being the guy allergic to pine in the pine barrens. Everyone who met me asked, in a very serious tone of voice, "are you alright?" Benadryl was one of the four food groups. I don't care if that crap is bad for the snake or not. It is bad for me, and it is only slightly better if it is kiln dried.
2. The penny saver people think that I need to get a subscription of their paper full of adds. They don't charge for it. At first I was annoyed every time I went outside in the morning and tripped over the confounded thing. Then I realized they were just delivering free substrate. Now if only I could get my snakes to clip coupons for hot pockets. Right now Delphi my ball python is taking a poop on a 10 percent off coupon for deli meat. My corn snake is burrowing under shredded discounts on bottled water. Another product that confounds me. Who would pay that much for water when you can get it for pennies just turning on the tap? My BCI is expelling some Urates on an Oscar Meyer Weiners add. My rainbow boa is lounging on a full page spread for Lucky Charms.
So there you have it, recycled newspaper, safe for snakes, non allergenic, and free. Who cares if pine is poisonous? Who in there right mind would pay for substrate? Just ask your neighbors and friends if any of them have any newspaper they don't want to haul to the curb. Offer to take it out for them. Its free substrate. If your snake likes to burrow, buy a paper shredder. Some people say I am cheap, I say resourceful.
Best of all I don't have to get into an argument where both sides are armed with exactly no evidence. News flash, no one has ever done a controlled double blind study on pine bedding toxicity in snakes. And unless snakes become a human analog, nobody probably ever will.
David
Reply With Quote