Geoff Kessler wrote:
>Pine chips, Cedar chips, and Aspen chips as you all know, that are deadly
>to our little ferrets.
 
Need to clarify this a bit....Pine chips and cedar chips contain phenols
that can be damaging to the lungs of small animals.  The extent of the
effects of the phenols can be deadly, but are not always so.  Also, aspen
chips contain little to no phenols and are 100% safe as small animal
bedding.
 
Cedar is the worst of the lot, pines come in behind cedar, but..one has
no idea which pines were used to make the shavings/chips, and there are
varying amounts of phenols in different pine woods.
 
Also need to note, those folks using stove pellets as litter.  Not to
worry..the heating and extrusion process used to make the stove pellets,
very efficiently removes any harmful phenols from the wood.  But..if you
have a choice, get the ***hardwood*** stove pellets.  (Some communities
will only allow the hardwood type of pellet to be sold..burns cleaner and
has less particulate matter after combustion..Aspen, CO is one of those
communities!)
 
MC, The Rude One
(With Snorkle, Tuzigoot, and Bancho.  In spirit, Bubba, Billy-Bob, and
Garret)
[Posted in FML issue 3150]