I lost my ball python how do i bring him out of hiding.

What is the best kind of substrate to use for ball pythons that will help keep mites away? ?

• I recently bought a ball python approx 10 months old from petco. I don't know much about snakes so I mainly bought the things that the employee told me to. I have a 20 long tank with a screen lid, an uth pad as well as the heat lamp. I made a hot side and cool side of the tank for him and he has a big water bowl and hiding spot. Not even a week after bringing him home I noticed he had a mite on him and I went to talk to a man at a local pet store - not petco. He advised me to take out the cypress mulch and use aspen bedding and treat the snake for mites. I cleaned the tank and I believe got rid of the bugs, but now with the aspen the tank is significantly dryer and I'm misting him 5-6 times a day just to keep the humidity up at 50%. I want to know if there's something else I can use as substrate that won't bring the mites back and increase the humidity. And his water bowl is on the cooler side, will it make a difference if I move it under the light? Does the wet towel on top the screen work? I know the heat lamp decreased humidity by far, but when I turn it off the temp drops down to 70 or so and I know that's too cold for him. All in all he seems pretty healthy. He shed a week before I got him and his skin has the right amout of moisture as far as I can tell. He's eating and extremely friendly when any of us pick him up. I just want him to flourish and live healthy as long as he can! Anything would help! Thanks

• Answer:

  try orchid bark you wont need to spray it that much to keep up humidity up. i use beach chips which are very dry for my ball python and my humidity gauge says that its really humid in my tank and ive had no problem with mites yet but aslong as you keep the tank clean and disinfect it with reptile safe disinfectant it should all be ok