Brazilian Rainbow Boa substrate, what do you use?

[SquamishSerpents]

Before we took the plunge and got these boas (we're up to 3 now) I was very intimidated by the humidity requirements of these snakes. I had been using Eco-Earth for our BRB's since we got them, to keep the humidity up.

However, it seems the care of them is blown a bit out of proportion, and they're really no more difficult to care for than our Ball Pythons.

I put them in 41quarts about 2 months ago, and they pretty much spent half the time roaming, and both females stopped eating (never missing a meal in their almost 3 years up until this point). So I added in some hides, but that didn't really work either. So decided to switch them back to their previous 32 quarts for now.

I also decided to try using aspen bedding as opposed to the Eco Earth, because I really don't like the stuff.

The first day they were in the aspen, they spent most of the time swimming through the water dish, I even found the male completely submersed.

Do you think this is because they don't like the aspen? Or is it just because I uprooted them once again and changed the size of their bins/substrate? Or is it because it's just Murphy's Law that they will swim, poop, and generally mess things up directly after you change their bins?

They've all gone back to normal now, no swimming, and they've settled into their hides.

Like I said, initially I used Eco-Earth because of the humidity requirements, but I find we haven't had any issues. They always shed perfect in one piece. Really all it takes is a bigger water dish and less holes in the tubs.

Sorry for the long-winded post, just wanted to give you some background on how they're kept. I pretty much just want to know what everyone uses as a substrate, and weather aspen is a suitable choice? Lots of the care sheets out there have extremely conflicting advice.

Thanks!