Is Aspen bedding a good substrate?

[Stefan-A]

Dang local stores want $10 for an 4 quart bag! I got 8 quart bags online for 5 bucks.

So your local stores want about twice as much as our "local" online stores and you got yours at about half the price of what the online stores demand. Or at roughly 8 times the price of peat moss.

Then again, my math could be a bit off. It's midnight.

Peat moss is indeed fine and dusty. It being fine prevents it from causing impactions and it being dusty can partially be prevented by keeping the humidity high enough. It's best not to let it completely dry out, but of course it's not supposed to be moist all the time.