It used to be, many many many, years ago that lots of people used Pine Shavings for their reptiles. I'm talking 24 or more years in case you were wondering.

Anyway Pine Shavings was what people used way back then. I used it myself, with no problems. OK, I had one problem, but it wasn't related to the oils in the pine shavings.

Boas and many other snakes did just fine on the pine shavings back then. It was cheap and readily available. I know of people that still use it, without any problems today.

I choose not to use it and I haven't used it in..... 23 years. I've used newspaper and/or liners since the "problem" I had with pine shavings. I don't use any types of wood at all. For me, any wood substrate isn't safe for my boas.

OK, I guess I should tell you about the "problem" I had with the pine shavings.

It happened right after my female Boa gave birth. She had a very large litter. All of them were fine, except for 1. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe it didn't absorb all of it yolk before it was born. Maybe it absorbed it's yolk shortly after birth. When it absorbed it's yolk, after it was born, it also absorbed a piece of the pine shavings. It was a fairly small piece, but it looked HUGE, since it was coming out of my boa's umbilical area. I rushed this little boa to the vet, but it died on the way there. I've never used any type of wood substrate since and I never will.

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