I don't like putting a bunch of stuff in my snake cages. It only makes cleaning more difficult, and therefore less appealing to me (like it ever Is appealing, lol.) But I look at people's naturalistic tanks, with elaborate plants and stuff, and think of how many germs must be lurking around in them. Sure, there are bacteria and such in nature. But when they are boxed up in a tank with your snake, I'd imagine that infections would be much more likely. I house my snakes in utilitarian cages with newspaper substrate. With loose subs, feces and urate are often overlooked in a corner or underneath the top layer, which is bad.