I have heard different things from books and online sites and I wanted some more insight on it, but I want to know what the best beding for a corn snake would be?
Aspen bedding would be your best bet. You can get a huge bag of finely shredded aspen at PetsMart for around $12. Aspen will mold in high humidity, so clean up feces frequently, and don't let the enclosure get too humid. High humidity is bad for corns anyway
Definitely aspen snake bedding. It absorbs wetness, sticks to feces to eliminate smell and easy to find, brings out their natural desire to burrow, destroys smells, and alot more. I saw a bag at Petco that was a 24qt (the biggest size) for eight dollars and you got a free bag of the smaller size.
I'm currently using aspen too. For many years I've used newspaper but I've heard lots of folks talking up the aspen so thought I'd try it. The snakes seem to like it but neither has pooped yet on it so I don't know how good it will be for that. Newspaper is certainly easiest. If I don't like aspen after the next bathroom break I'll go back to it. If you plan on feeding in cage, which I do not recommend, newspaper is the safe bet. Don't use any walnut, cedar, or cali-sand type products whatever you do.
If you do use aspen how often do you have to clean it? I think I heard once a week you pick out the bad spots, and then every few weeks you clean it all out...
Since it is so cheap and easy to get, I would completely change it out once a week. If it gets wet, aspen will mold quickly, and even spot cleaning, you can still miss some wet spots. There's nothing wrong with feeding in the cage with aspen. Think about what these snakes digest when they eat a mouse/rat... Bones, hair, teeth, organs... I don't think a tiny wood chip is going to do much harm to their incredible digestive system. They don't eat on paper plates in the wild, now do they?
Hmm, i would say no. Use reptile carpet, non-adhesive shelf-liner, or paper towels. Slate tile is good also.
I think the main concern with aspen is not necessarily from impaction but instead it's with possible splinters, which I think is a valid concern.
Oops, didn't see the second page here. I was talking about snakes and feeding on aspen. I think the main concern there is from splinters and not impaction as SatanicIntentions had mentioned. But yeah, a splinter on the belly would suck! With beardies I'd be worried about impaction.