Is Aspen bedding a good substrate?

[Stefan-A]

No, aspen does not "suck" not at all. What made you think that we "all" think it sucks, Wayne? I just don't use it personally. It does not "suck" at all.

It does suck. It gets moldy quickly, it doesn't absorb anything, it doesn't hold humidity, it doesn't soften up when it's ingested and it sticks to everything except feces. And it's dusty. Much more so than peat.

[Barak666]

Well, the opinions seems to diverge. It thinks I will use a mix of coco peat and bark on almost all the ground surfaces but few inches before the water I will put a piece of driftwood (2,5"-3" in diameter) to retain the soil and between the log and the aquarium, I will put some river pebble. On the soil mix, I will try a floor covering plant.

Today, I will take a look at the below average pet-shop we have here to see if they have these products at a reasonable price.

[Spankenstyne]

It does suck. It gets moldy quickly, it doesn't absorb anything, it doesn't hold humidity, it doesn't soften up when it's ingested and it sticks to everything except feces. And it's dusty. Much more so than peat.

It's worked fine for me as one of my main choices of substrate for more than 20 years. I've had hundreds of snakes and lizards live, eat, poop, & have babies on it without a single problem, and *knock on wood* I've never had a case of impaction to this day. I also switched to the chip more often in recent years.

It's a matter of using what works for the cage conditions.

Aspen is a good choice for a dry substrate, you don't want to use it for humid cages.
For this particular application with the huge water area involved you would probably find it to be a pain to maintain and not ideal.
Yep it can get moldy if it's left wet and ventilation is limited. I find it quite absorbent, which is probably why it gets moldy, it's holding moisture . It quickly dries up feces, again by absorbing the moisture, and is easily spot cleaned. I don't find it particularly dusty, but who knows different brands and sources could certainly be different.

I will say that Peat is a fantastic substrate for humid enclosures, but equally terrible for dry ones. If left to dry out it becomes incredibly dusty, a couple of breeders I know have lost animals to nasal cavity blockages from letting the peat get completely dry. One was a Chondro and the other a Blood Python so there might be some sort of physical contribution there as well. Others have anecdotally made claims too but these two cases I know of and trust the results.
I've never had a problem with Peat though, and use it for my Rainbow Boa enclosures and many of my humid hides for other snakes and have for years, but I never let it get completely dry. When it gets dry it's horribly dusty and seems to coat everything with a fine layer of dust.

Mathieu it sounds like you've made your decision and imo it's a good one, there are a lot of options that will work and everyone has their favourites.