Sauzo, look into this for your retic. Insanely cheap and might be even better for absorption. Not something I would say is recommended for ball pythons but for bigger messier snakes I would assume it is top notch. I mean after all this is used for horses and we all know about what race horses pee like
Edit: Actually not sure one way or the other if it would work for ball pythons as it can get kind of damp and hold moisture a bit but honestly never tried it.
http://hemp-solutions.org/animal-bedding/