Substrate

whats the best substrate for the money? ive heard aspen is goos and also the coco husk stuff.. and im also looking to use this substrate for my rats too..

so what can i use for BPs (one red tail boa) and rats?

In my opinion aspen bedding is great, it looks nice and keeps humidity well in my experiences, It can be a little pricey but it is deffinately worth it.

Yeah i agree aspen can be used for all of the animals you have listed, But you can also use Cypress mulch
Care Fresh
New/butchers paper

Those are three good substrates but i still prefer aspen!

I use thin indoor outdoor carpet for my reptiles and recycled paper for my rodents.

wheres the cheapest place to buy the aspen?

I don't use aspen because of the dust factor. For some reason the aspen I can get it always dusty and I only use it for my mice cages. I use the coco husk stuff. It covers a lot and it also hold humidity very well.

Where's the cheapest place to get either the Aspen or coco husk.. I may try both

coco products are cheap. I get mine from an organic greenhouse. I bought a bail, a dense bail about the size of a bail of hay it is hard and very heavy. The cost works out to about 5-6$ for a 100L (about 3.5 cubic feet or one big bag) That is buying a lot at one time (100L lasts me with 8 snakes for 6 months... the bail was 27$ and about 560L (20 cubic feet expanded) A regular off the shelf price at a box hardware store is about 10 for 100L (3.5 cubic feet) and at least in my area about 1/3 of aspen.

I am not sure what rats would make of it however. It holds moisture like crazy and the really nice bit is once it dries out you can add more water and it just re-absorbes it unlike some woods. It also hold way more water than any wood I have ever encountered.