In my never ending search for substrate I am looking into many things. Newspaper, Aspen, Cypress, Cedar(Just kidding), topsoil, and peat moss.

Newspaper is free but my snakes tend to just bunch it around in a few hours and poop under it instead of on it.

Aspen is not as good for humidity and damned if Petsmart didnt change from Kaytee to Premier Pet which is bigger chunks. I am worried about ingestion.

Cypress is only available in small expensive bags, and the lawn and garden centers now only stock cypress blend which some have cedar some have pine in them.

Topsoil (organic of course) looks fairly cheap and I know a few boa keepers that use it. What do you guys think? BTW Humidity is a problem here so this may help.

and someone on here uses Peat Moss. I have a lot of it, its cheap. It will boost humidity. What does everyone think about this? Too messy?

Oh also coco fiber, I can't seem to find it cheap enough though. I used to use that on my sand boa because if she could not dig, she would not eat. Newspaper was a big no no.

So, opinions? Also, unrelated subject if anyone knows where to get deli cups that fit into 4" pvc for water bowls please let me know.