Quote Originally Posted by Twist View Post
I use cypress mulch for all of my snakes and I love it. The only thing to remember is when you're feeding it's a good idea to hold the food item with tongs or your hand or something instead of just tossing it in there because it wouldn't be a good experience for you to have to pull a shard of wood out of your snakes bleeding mouth. been there done that. Other than that cypress mulch is very good for keeping humidity. Spray it down with a bottle so its slightly darker and when it lightens up in a few days spray again. Never had problems when using cypress.

edit: It's cheap too. Lowes/home depot sell 3 cu.ft bags for under 3.00 a bag. It's also very mildew resistant. Not sure why more people don't use it honestly.
Another good way to avoid substrate ingestion is to use a separate container specifically for feeding. I have rept-carpet and I still do this simply to keep my snake from associating her tank opening with feeding time. It's kinda cool to watch actually how she will go from very docile and mellow to full on hunt mode as soon as I put her in the feed box.

Also, great suggestion on the tongs. My snake refuses to eat unless it's moving and it only took me getting bit once while wiggling the mouse with my fingers to realize that was a pretty stupid idea.