What is the "perfect" substrate?

[angrygamer]

I went with aspen for a while, but I didn't like it and switched to coco fiber, which I like a lot better.

[Stefan-A]

Paper.

[EasternGirl]

I like carefresh a lot...but it seems to be too dusty for Cee Cee...it aggravates her breathing problems...so I don't use it much anymore. I tried Kat's method of mixing reptibark with aspen...and have that for Cee Cee's enclosure and Sadie's enclosure...they seem to be happy with that. All the other snakes have aspen right now...except for the babies...they have shredded paper substrate...which I like for them because it's safer, but it can be a pain to use with adult snakes because it sticks to them when they are wet and they drag it into the water and such. I think I am going to try the bark/aspen mix in my other tanks soon. I'm also going to buy some of the bigger aspen shavings as opposed to the shredded kind.

[Light of Dae]

I hated using aspen shavings, they were so dry and I couldn't keep the humidity up above 20. I'm actually switching back to coco husk later today from shredded paper.
It works perfect for me, my snakes love it, it's clean, can be misted with no issue. It's not dusty, it absorbs smell.
@Redsided- I'm not sure it is considered 'safe to swallow' but it is big chunks that fall off food...

[Dualll]

If you haven't already, I suggest looking into your local gardening store for the substrate before a pet store. Prices are much cheaper for much more quantity. You can get peat soil (retains moisture very well) to wood chips there.

[zendragondrew]

I use Aspen Snake Bedding because he likes to bury himself in it. I just put a big plate in with thawed out pinkies when it's feeding time and he normally doesn't move off the plate to swallow so the food doesn't stick. Only have that problem when I feed him fish since he might retract far out of the water to swallow the fish.