Cedar, pine, aspen

I have heard that cedar chips are inappropriate for housing animals, but many reptile sites give the nod to pine and aspen.

All shredded wood must be on a continuum from those like aspen which is generally thought to be fine, to cedar which most agree is not useful because of the aromatice oils that actually affect the body's chemistry.

I'd like to see studies about pine, to see where it fits in. Does anyone have a link to a site that has objective info on this subject?

ANY evergreen is a no-no. Aspen is a hardwood and does not contain the oils that evergreens do.

As far as a study goes, I do not know of one offhand....

I have heard this statement about pine many times and I have to say I disagree. I used pine shavings for years in the 90s with no ill affects. I kept both my snakes and feeder animals on it and I never had a problem. I will say that you have to watch the water bowls and make sure none gets in the water as this seems to make the oils come out. Just my .02....

When I first started keeping reptiles about 15 years ago or so I used cedar exclusively as I was recommended by the pet shop(internet being in it's infancy at the time). I never had any problems with it at all and was honestly surprised to find that once I started coming online, people had nothing but bad things to say about it. I'm not saying anyone should use it..I guess 95% of the people giving the same opinion has to count for something. It was just somewhat confusing that I had such good luck with something almost universally agreed to be deadly to snakes. I too would like to see some sort of in-depth study that can give a definite answer 1 way or the other.