Check Up to make sure Im doing this right. (:

Question
I have had my corn snake, Butters, for one year on September 13th. He was very tiny when I purchased him-- the same size as one I saw recently, who had allegedly "just hatched" a week or two previous (the woman said she breeds hers regularly).
I have him in a ten gallon tank in my bedroom. I use a mini-heater as well as a blue light, which I leave on pretty much constantly. He usually hangs out in the middle of the tank, in his toilet roll and/or rock cave, right between the warm and cool side... or else wrapped around his water dish, on the cool side.
His feeding day is Sunday. I have just begun to feed him fuzzies two weeks ago, when the pinkies took less than a minute each to swallow. I got a lecture from a pet store associate, telling me I was hugely underfeeding him (before I even said his age or size; I felt ashamed and guilty) and that he should be on hoppers. I am, under instruction, building him quickly from fuzzies to the hoppers.
My questions are, how many hoppers? What size tank will he need as he grows? Is the carefresh bedding suitable his whole life, or should I use something more "natural", like aspen or bark or sand? (He loves to slide around through it, and it's easy to clean, so I like it.)

Answer
As far as the food size, a general rule of thumb is that it should create a noticeable bulge in the snake's belly that will last about 2 days. If you can't see any bulge, or it disappears quickly, then it's time to bump up the size of it's food.

For the bedding, you can continue using the carefresh. I use aspen shavings in my tanks but either is fine. Bark is ok too, but never use sand as it can cause impaction.