that's great stuff and it's totally fine for your snake. Cedar = bad but cypress = good. I keep all of my snakes on aspen and I do not take them out of their cages to eat. But then again, I stand over and watch as they eat and pick off anything that might get stuck to the food with my tongs as they eat. I line up a bunch of tubs next to each other and just start plugging hungry snake mouths!

except for my similis. he is evil and mean and nasty. so he gets a smelly fish pinky left in his cage on a dish!

the only thing that your cage definitely needs is a hidey hole of some sort. it should be small, dark, and low enough to the ground that the snake will feel like it is secure.

Dollar stores are great for flora for tanks. The dollar store near me sells these 3 foot long ivy vines and they even BEND.... those are great!!!