I use newspaper pellet and Aspen. I also like coconut fibre for high humidity animals like my sunbeam snake. Aspen is not snake killer, otherwise all my snakes would be dead! just don't leave the snakes unattended while eating! I used to use corn cob, but stopped when even though I was hand feeding babies, I lost two or three due to a piece of it being ingested. I think some of them became over zealous AFTER feeding and just grabbed a piece and ate it. I was able to save one baby by purging it all the way from his lower stomach out his mouth. (I don't advise doing that.) I like kitty soft newspaper pellet because its incredibly absorbant, it's chunky and heavy and it rarely sticks to food, and if a piece does somehow get pasty my watch and eaten, it softens when wet and will pass through.