So I've got two young male checkered garter snakes in an Exo Terra large/wide (18" wide by 18" high by 36" long), and I've found them to be very satisfying snakes to own. They eat great and are out and about more than most snakes. In the past four months I think they've grown nicely, going from eating a pinkie and half a nightcrawler a week (seperate feedings) to two pinkies and a whole nightcrawler a week (seperate feedings). I plan to try out silversides soon. Shedding has been fine, except for a bit retained on the tail of one on his most recent shed (I soaked him in warm water and he let me get it off just fine, I think the little guy just doesn't make as much use of his humid hide as his tankmate does).

Anyway, onto the main issue. On recommendations from the famous care sheet, I've always used recycled paper pellets. I like them and my garters seem happy enough, yet I can't help but think they might like to be able to burrow more. They have some moss but it can't beat the burrowing opportunies of a layer of aspen. Just how important is burrowing to a checkered garter snake? I have a california kingsnake and while she loves her hides I think she would be a lot more stressed out or less active if she didn't have a few inches of aspen to burrow in as she likes.

Also it seems having the option to burrow everywhere would encourage the garters to make more use of areas of the terrarium that don't have hides or branches to climb on (the two main places they are, at least during the day).

As I understand it the main reason to use the paper pellets is for in-cage feeding as they don't stick to food much. However, my garters have always been champs at feeding in little tubs outside their terrarium. So with that in consideration would aspen be superior? I use the kind that supposedly is 99% dust free.

My only other problem with using aspen and having the garters burrow is the waste disposal. With the pellets it is easy to find their poop as it is all on the surface. With the aspen though it could be anywhere. This isn't an issue with my kingsnake since she poops only once a week at most, but with the garters it is much more frequent. I fear not being able to find it all, and that shifting through the aspen for it routinely would stress them out. Do you think just getting the waste I see would be enough along with the usual full-cage cleanings?

Many thanks for any thoughts.