Hey BP people! My fiancée and I picked up a new rack this afternoon and with the new rack, I would like to initiate some changes. Right now, all of our racks have different issues, so we keep them all differently, and I would like to get one uniform method, once and for all.

Rack 1 : Homemade hatchling rack, melamine
Substrate: Paper towels, nothing more
Problem: Low humidity

Rack 2: Reptile Basics 32Qt
Substrate: Paper Towels at the back, aspen at the front
Problem: The paper towels get dragged all over the cage!

Rack 3: Homemade Juvenile rack, untreated wood (rookie mistake)
Substrate: Paper Towels at the back, cypress mulch at the front
Problem: Cypress mulch is expensive, isn't holding humidity like it should, and the paper towels get dragged all over the place

Rack 4: Homemade breeder rack, plastic stacking drawers
Substrate: Just newspaper
Problem: Not only does the newspaper get disgusting if they decide to soak, but it gets crumpled up pretty much overnight and leaves the snakes with no substrate at all.

I just want to be able to have one method for all the racks. I need something to keep humidity and not get ruined easily, while staying relatively inexpensive. People have recommended cardboard precut liners, but has it really come to that? I'm worried about just using aspen or cypress because I have heard it creates unstable hot spots. What do you think, guys?