Honest opinions on substrates

I have my normal BP on paper towels with a small section of reptile carpet under the water dish. On the warm side I have flat rocks under the hide, and on the cool side I have spagnum moss under the hide. I have read so much conflicting information regarding substrate choice over the past year since I got my python, that I don't feel any closer to making a decision. I have read about mites coming in bedding like aspen or coconut husk or even moss which makes me a little nervous. I really love the look of the coconut, but am worried about mites and ingestion. I feed him in his enclosure. Can anyone give me some slightly more concrete pros and cons of various substrates?

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Ingestion of substrate is no big deal. As long as he isn't swallowing a stick, your BP will be fine. I am not going to say what i use for substrate... don't really want to make this into a debate but I have been using my substrate for three years with no problems at all.

I also have never had a mite problem due to substrate. Only once have I had a snake with mites and that was when I bought my boa, the next day we notice a little black bug on him... one treatment and it was over. We caught it pretty early. I also have never personally met someone who had a snake get mites from substrate but I have heard of it.

I will only say what I know about substrate I have actually used.

My absolute favorite substrate is cypress mulch. I just do not use it because of the cost. One bag doesn't cover much and it is pretty expensive. For one snake though, I highly recommend it. It keeps humidity well and isn't as messy as coconut husk. And it looks great. I never seen mold but sometimes it can produce that molding wood smell.

Aspen... well, as popular as it is, I do not like it. It is horrible for humidity and it just doesn't look natural, if decor is important to you. It wont harm your snake though and it is a good cheaper alternative.

Coconut fiber (brick version) is okay for holding humidity. It lasts longer then aspen not as long as cypress mulch. In heated areas it tends to dry out quickly. It is super messy. The really nice thing about it is it looks really good and works like cat litter. It clumps up pee and poo.

There is also repti bark, I used it for like a week. I personally HATED it. It stained my snakes red despite me rinsing the bark to get rid of the red pigment. It is also hard and seemed pretty uncomfortable for the snakes. You know when you nap and you end up with impressions on your arm... well that is what happened with my snakes when I used repti bark.

I use "Critters Crumble" for my python. It's made of coconut coir, so ingestion won't cause impactions. And it holds humidity well, so great for shedding. It is also easy to clean. Normally, it's pretty cheap for what you get.

I started off with cypress mulch although I didn't care for the coarseness and splintering factor of it (more of a personal vendetta) .. it works well but then my collection grew and as mentioned above it is pricey

I switched to a paper cage liner that I ordered by the role .. it was nice however you can't spot clean with it pretty much a tiny mess in one corner and you have to replace the whole sheet

I just this past week switched to aspen ... It is a laboratory grade shaved aspen that is a lot finer than what you get at your typical pet store and is processed in a machine to remove the dust .. A breeder friend of mine uses it and turned me on to it and I like it a lot ... Although it can be quite hard to find in some areas, the closest place to me that the average Joe can get it is 3 hrs away, however I got lucky enough to have a local bigger scale breeder that gets it in bulk and I can get it from him