As I prefer a naturalistic cages over the years I have tried many different things. In the end I found I like to use a mixture of Forest Floor cypress mulch, Eco Earth, and Repti Bark. This gives me all of the perks of each without giving me the negatives like the dustiness of Eco Earth when dry. This mixture also gives my cages a much more nature look instead of a monotone substrate layer.

In my large cages those snakes have proven to be to messy to use a loose substrate so they are on newspaper. I don't really like it but it works best for my bigger snakes.