Hamster Central - View Single Post - How to tell if bedding is suitable if it doesn't say what wood?

EmmaAndChester · 06-03-2020, 03:55 PM

Ah, that's a shame. I was really hoping it would be spruce/fir mix (with the bulk of the shavings being spruce, like chipsi) to give folk more bedding options. Odd that they've included cedar! It's just not common for European brands to incorporate, at least it would seem.

I've been doing a lot of research on beddings myself lately, too. The only real concern there really is with Pine is phenol levels, from my research at least. Abietic acid is constantly brought up as an argument, but it's a flawed one IMO. Abietic acid allergy is fairly uncommon - in the quantity that it would be present in softwood, especially softwood that has undergone further resin removal it likely occurs as <1%. You'd probably have a better chance at winning the lotto than having a problem directly related to the abietic acid present in the bedding haha. I'm not sure what other arguments could be used against it; the only arguments i've ever heard are 1) phenols & 2) abietic acid (<which is blown up, if you ask me).

There are a couple handful of longterm studies on pine that show no ill effects, but not enough to convince me of it's safety level. It's the phenol levels that are my concern: even when heat treated, they don't go down - at least not when treated at temps of 100-200C. Best to err on the side of caution with it, best approach I think!

06-03-2020, 03:55 PM
EmmaAndChester Hamster Pup Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Dublin City, Ireland Posts: 162	Re: How to tell if bedding is suitable if it doesn't say what wood? Ah, that's a shame. I was really hoping it would be spruce/fir mix (with the bulk of the shavings being spruce, like chipsi) to give folk more bedding options. Odd that they've included cedar! It's just not common for European brands to incorporate, at least it would seem. I've been doing a lot of research on beddings myself lately, too. The only real concern there really is with Pine is phenol levels, from my research at least. Abietic acid is constantly brought up as an argument, but it's a flawed one IMO. Abietic acid allergy is fairly uncommon - in the quantity that it would be present in softwood, especially softwood that has undergone further resin removal it likely occurs as <1%. You'd probably have a better chance at winning the lotto than having a problem directly related to the abietic acid present in the bedding haha. I'm not sure what other arguments could be used against it; the only arguments i've ever heard are 1) phenols & 2) abietic acid (<which is blown up, if you ask me). There are a couple handful of longterm studies on pine that show no ill effects, but not enough to convince me of it's safety level. It's the phenol levels that are my concern: even when heat treated, they don't go down - at least not when treated at temps of 100-200C. Best to err on the side of caution with it, best approach I think!