Whats wrong with pine or wood chips?

Question

I have asked a similar question about wood chips on another one of my questions. What is it with it that people say that it is no good? i only used it twice in my hamsters bedding then took it out. Could it have potenitally harmed my Simba?I want to make sure he is healthy.

Answer 1

there is dust and can get them lots of problems and can be very very harmful to them

Answer 2

The problem is that both pine and cedar are softwoods and contain phenols that damage the respiratory system and liver. Pine has less then cedar, but it still has them. Treated/kiln-dried pine is said to have had all or most of the phenols removed but I still don't trust it personally. There are too many safer alternatives to risk it in my opinion.

Aspen is a hardwood bedding and thus does not have the phenols, making it the only safe wood type bedding.

Carefresh is another good bedding.

Answer 3

ok, well pine and cedar have harmful aromatic oils for hammys. the ony wood bedding safe is aspen. i wouldnt even trust 'kiln-dried' pne/ cedar.... the safest route by far is CAREFRESH =]

Answer 4

I've had a hamsters for 3 years and always used pine and cider chips and he's not sick or dead, he never has been sick in his life in fact they did nothing to him. I would say it's fine.

Answer 5

Corn cob bedding isn't that great either

http://www.guinealynx.info/bedding.html

Answer 6

The natural oils that make the bedding smell nice to us can cause respiratory difficulties in rodents.  I use Care Fresh, it works great.  A short time with wood will not cause harm, but switch and don't use any wood shavings

Answer 7

it causes respitory problems.

Answer 8

The thing with pine is that some of it is good, some is bad.

It all depends if it has been treated before packaging.

If not, it's got phenols in it, just like cedar.

Both of those are dangerous in that the oils can cause respiratory infections and possible liver damage.

I, myself, used pine shavings for about 6 months. I made sure they were treated, and they didn't harm my guys.

Since that bag ran out I switched to Carefresh and it's working great.

I don't think that after only a week or two they were harmed, especially if it was the treated type.

May I ask what brand it was? You may be able to check online for reviews.

Answer 9

Nothing is wrong with pine chips for the ground, it's great for all kinds of hamsters, it is soft and they can't get cut on them.

i have them for my dwarf hamster.

Answer 10

admit it, you love the smell of cedar and pine. its actually like breathing in candles, 24/7. it smells good, but if your hamster has to breathe it in all the time, he will get rhesperitory problems.

Answer 11

There is a chemical property to pine trees that is harmful to rodents and many animals.  It is more accumulative so I'm sure your hamsters will be fine.  Keep using fluff, newspaper and other hamster approved bedding to keep them healthy and happy.

Answer 12

I use corn cob bedding for the main part of the cage and Aspen pine shavings for inside his little bed just because corn cob doesn't have to be changed as much.

Cedar has phenols (spelling?) that can cause respiratory problems, so maybe you are confusing pine with cedar, though I have heard other people mention problems with pine.

If you want wood shavings, pine is better and be sure to get the large shavings and shake the bag so that the small dust particles go to the bottom of the bag and won't get into your little guy's cage for him to breathe in.