Hm.. I can't control the live mice, but she's got a very healthy feeding response, so they don't last long. I use cypress mulch, but I'm wondering if just placing a large piece of newspaper over her substrate before dropping the mouse in would work? For some reason I was thinking newspaper and paper towels weren't enough to distance her from the heat pad? If they're an acceptable substrate I'd love to use them for her, as they're miracle bedding for all my other snakes.

Part of the reason I'm so paranoid is that one of my snakes is blind and will try to eat anything that even remotely smells like food, including substrate. Ever since seeing him grab a piece of carefresh and having to wrestle it out of his mouth I'm always worried something like that will happen again