Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know cedar is bad...but does anyone know anything bad about
using pine shavings as bedding for snakes? I'm sure that aspen
is okay, but I'm not sure about pine.

Any thoughts?

Pine is Bad! The oils are toxic to reptiles.
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Jeremy

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Thanks for the post. Can you (or anyone else) point
to any data/study/article to support this? I'd like
to learn more.

Well, no scientific data from me, but lots of testimony from breeders who have used pine for many years. I know that the pine oils have beed shown to be toxic, but so are alot of things in enough quantity.

Basically, it comes down to this: if the shavings have been dried thoroghly, the reduced qty of oils left in the shavings may be of little consequence to snakes. I know of breeders who have used dry pine shavings for up to 20 yrs with no obvious effects, meaning that the snakes on them lived to see ages that rival any captive snake basically kept in similar fashion on aspen.

I couldn't tell you if there is a health effect over time, like 10-15 years, even on dry pine. I don't know if anyone can prove/disprove that. But if you put a snake in a small enclosed area with little ventilation with freshly-cut pine shavings, perhaps there will be a better likelyhood of an immediate problem.

I had a Cal king for 12 years on pine before other substrates made the scene being sold everywhere. He lived to be around 17-18 and fathered babies at age 15. And I used regular old pet store pine. I'd put the pine in an open plastic bin. Perhaps the airing out helped.

I think different species will react differently, I would have a hard time thinking that a corn snake, scarlet kingsnake, etc would be negatively effected by pine shavings, given where they are often encountered in the wild (pine stumps, logs, etc).
Maybe I am wrong though...caution is surely warranted regardless.
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Ben Team
Mark Davis
New Paradigm Herpetoculture
Captive Bred Morelia
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