OK, so I started with aspen bedding and it was a mess, it didn't hold moisture, I was going through tons of it, and it was getting in the mouths of my ball pythons and some snakes were getting a lot of bedding stuck in their mouths when missing a rodent. Then I had a mite issue, so switched to paper towels. I love the paper towels, I can see the mites and see when the snakes make a mess, but the problem now is I can't keep the humidity up and my snakes are having major shed problems.
So I just picked up a block of Reptichip coconut substrate and boy does that stuff expand and hold the water! But it's pretty expensive, and I can't see the mites very good unless they are on my snake, and there's the heating issue - if the snake is on top of the substrate it's a completely different temp than if they burrow down into it, very difficult to maintain temps. And if the snake pees a lot, like my retic, I can't see it and the substrate just sucks it up and I don't realize it's soiled.
So I came up with a solution of using several layers of newspaper covered by paper towels in the back of the tub over the heat with Reptichip substrate around the front part of the tub. That way if the snake makes a mess I can simply change out the paper towels and newspaper, much cheaper and easier than changing out reptichip. And I can spray down the reptichip in the front to keep the humidity high. Not sure how it's going to work long term, I just set it up today. It's kind of the best of both worlds (if it works). I keep my snake room in the mid 70s and the hotspot about 88 F so most snake hang out in the back over the heat, which is where I want them to be!
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