I use straight vermiculite(coarse grade from Uline.com) without the light grate and have never had a problem. In 3 seasons, I've only lost 2 eggs and they may not have been fertile(I didn't candle the eggs in that clutch---7 out of 9 eggs hatched/2 bad). My females also lay fine on news paper. I do have plans to put some or most of my snakes back on aspen though. I finally found the fine shredded aspen at a pet store. Petsmart's aspen has been of a low quality, etc for a couple of years. Their aspen hasn't been the fine shredded stuff that I used to get there.
Best of luck with your clutch!
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