Maybe aspen isn't to his liking?

[Coluber42]

I've been sort of wondering if maybe our BP doesn't like the feel of his aspen bedding. Does that sound crazy?
When he's moving around the tank, it often looks like he's trying to avoid slithering around on the aspen - there's enough stuff in there that he can sort of do that. He has an assortment of hides, and some have "floors" of aspen bedding and some don't. The warm hide has just paper towel under it to transmit heat from the heat mat better, and he has a couple that are made of rolled up moss mat, so the "floor" is smooth foam. He used to use the normal, open-on-the-bottom hides before I added the moss mat rolls, but since I added the rolled moss mats, he only uses those plus the warm hide. But if anything, the ones with aspen "floors" are darker and more secluded, while the moss mat ones are in front and more visible. So the only explanation I can think of is that he doesn't sitting on the aspen floors if he has a choice.

He was in a tub with paper towels at the store, and presumably whatever breeder he came from likely had him on paper towels too. We've had him for about a month or so, and he's been eating well. But if he prefers lying around on paper towels than on aspen, I see no reason to keep using it.
I always used CareFresh with my old corn snake, but switched to aspen in hopes that it would help with the humidity when we got our BP. If aspen feels prickly or something, maybe he would like CareFresh better. Or just paper towels. I don't mind the look either way.

Am I way overthinking this? Or does he just really not like the feel of aspen bedding?

[cristacake]

I guess the best way to test this would be to change those aspen-floored hides to a non-aspen flooring and see if he starts using them! I use paper towels with no issue and if you don't mind the looks, I think a paper substrate is the easiest for cleaning and least likely to cause any problems

[Caspian]

When I got my first two, Zyali and Miqula, I put shredded aspen in their tubs. And they quite clearly did NOT like it. I switched to unprinted newsprint, and they were noticeably much more comfortable, so that's what I've stuck with. My Kingsnake I use aspen for. He likes to burrow.