Everyone seems to have their own preferences, but I like to use aspen bedding from Petco for all my snakes. It comes in a big compressed block and I think it's about $12 and it's kiln dried so no chance of getting bugs in it. About half of my snakes including some of my ball pythons like to burrow in it and they go down to the heat source, some just stay on top and some snakes move it all over the place LOL. I use cheaper pine bedding for my rodents from the feed store, I think it's about $8 per block but not as clean, sometimes it can get a little wet from sitting out in the yard. My mice don't seem to mind though, probably wouldn't use pine for my snakes as they recommend aspen. But the pine sure makes my rodent / snake room smell good!