Pine bedding- yay or nay?

[nolagurl]

I bought a butt load of pine bedding for a non herp I'm housing. I have so much of it I was curious if it would be okay to use it with my snakes as well.

[ReptiliansDOTca]

Nay, it contains toxins which are harmful to your reptiles.

[nolagurl]

thank you. i didn't think it was appropriate, which is why i asked. i've always used either newspaper or reptibark style substrate.

[ReptiliansDOTca]

Good choice, it is better to be safe then sorry right? :)

[mykee]

Yay for your feeders (not breeders) and nay for the snakes.

[Invictus]

This is one of those trendy opinions (sorry guys) that is about 50% valid. It's not worth the risk with pine. Non-aromatic pine is fine to use. Many breeders use it in fact. I know of 4 in Calgary alone who do use it and have never made a snake ill - but like I said, it must be completely non-aromatic. The wood aroma is caused by Phenol resins that exist in softwoods - this resin can kill a herp very quickly. So, as I said, while the non-aromatic stuff *can* be used, why risk it?

[nolagurl]

Originally posted by mykee
Yay for your feeders (not breeders) and nay for the snakes.

it's for a hedgehog. it's an okay substrate. i'll probably switch to something else once a run out, which won't be for a while!

it's kind of cute though, the pine sticks to him like velcro when i pick him up with a towel. it falls right off though. it makes for very easy cage maintenance!

[Oliverian]

Why is it a bad idea with breeders?

-TammyR

[mykee]

Breeders would remain on the pine for a long time, whereas the feeders would not. Prolonged use of pine as bedding for rats will produce scabs, and hair loss in rats. Been there, done that. I use aspen now.

[Robert C]

Thats funny .... I have kept my breeder rats and mice on pine bedding for 17-18 years now with out a single problem sounds to me like you may have some other issues

[Robert C]

Thats funny .... I have kept my breeder rats and mice on pine bedding for 17-18 years now with out a single problem sounds to me like you may have some other issues

[Robert C]

Thats funny .... I have kept my breeder rats and mice on pine bedding for 17-18 years now with out a single problem sounds to me like you may have some other issues

[mykee]

Three times? I have no other problems with my rats other than they began to have much smaller litters, way too many stillborns and the problems I mentioned above. Congratulations on your success with pine though. Congratulations on your success with pine though. Congratulations on your success with pine though. I have since moved on to aspen and ALL of those problems dissapppeared. Musta been the water.......