Quote Originally Posted by littleindiangirl View Post
Kiln dried refers to actually drying the oils out of the wood, making it less aromatic. Milling is just how much they chop it up.

If you have to use pine, use a good quality kiln dried pine. Premier Pets (sold at TSC) makes a kiln dried pine that does not have much odor, and it's very light and fluffy. Some bargain or generic brands are incredibly strong smelling and actually feel damp when the bag is opened new. Try to avoid those.

Pine, since it's a soft wood, does emit phenols, which have been shown to irritate the lungs of rats. But on the flip side, a very dusty aspen can irritate it just as much as well.

The studies into the effects of phenols on small animals is mostly due to concern over elevated enzyme levels in the liver, which can cause liver disease and failure. However, I'm not dumb to the fact that many labs use a lab quality kiln dried pine like what is available from harlan teklad.

My personal feelings are to stay away from pine unless it is a high quality kiln dried shaving, where if you were to take a handful and stick your nose in it, you can't smell very much.


BTW, pellets with shavings over the top helps tremendously in keeping dust down. I used to keep my girls on break in a large cage, and they kicked up a TON of dust that did land on everything; but with shavings over top, the dust was kept to a very considerable minimum, but the trade off is more odor.
Great post, as always! You started with exactly what I was going to say, but of course you have more personal experience to add to it than I do.