I used to use newspaper because I was worried about my snakes swallowing wood chips while eating. After seeing a few breeders setups, I made the switch to cypress mulch. It works much better for humidity and you don't have to clean as much. Little spot cleaning here and there and replace the entire thing when needed.

I've never had any problems with snakes eating wood chips. If I happen to see them swalling a piece I just grab it. Usually if they are swallowing a piece though, they will regurge the rat/mouse a bit until the wood chip falls out. Feeding live I really never have this problem, The frozen thawed ones that I defrost in warm water though, tend to have wood chips stick to them like crazy so I'd be careful in that scenerio.