I do care about the environmental factor, too. This would put the coco fiber, and newspaper, as my top choices.. I do remember that when I used cypress in the past, it seemed to have stuck to the snakes, as well.. I did place a plate or plastic cutting mat into their cages at that time to put their prey items onto, to prevent them swallowing jagged pieces of wood. I will be feeding this one live, so I am not sure how viable that is.. I could always slide it underneath her whole she is in a coil around her prey by gently lifting up on the prey item with tongs.. I remember doing that in the past too..