I've heard that on occasion about pine as well, but I think I that somwwhere along the lines it got confused with cedar. I've been keeping my Burms and Boas on pine ships since I starte keeping and haven't had a problem.Cedar ioil is toxic to a lot of animals, infact thats why they use it to line closets with and make mothballs out of, cigar makers have been using it forver to make their boxes from to keep bugs out of the tobbaco.