Hi

One thing I pride myself on is not taking short cuts when it comes to my animals. Having a collection of geckos and turtles, I always want to make sure I am doing EVERYTHING correctly because I tend to worry about things way too much.

My first 3 months of keeping ball pythons has been nothing short of amazing. I cannot believe that I haven't been keeping them all along. Please take a look at my review below and address my concerns as you see fit. I want to make sure all of my animals live long, healthy, and happy lives. I currently have 2 ball pythons and i'm adding 2 new ones in a couple months. One of them being a little costly, so there is zero room for error.

My current 2 Ball Pythons:

Pro's:
- Both snakes have been eating every 5 days without missing a meal
- Both snakes have been switched from live to F/T rats
- Humidity ranges from 55 -65%
- Both snakes are now having FULL 1 piece sheds
- Temps are 88-91 hot side, 77-81 cool side consistantly
- Their enclosures are cleaned and tubs switched once per week
- Both snakes have seen significant growth. I got the female and she was a bit underweight. She is now double in size and never misses a meal.

Concern's:
- I am deathly afraid of my snakes getting RI (I read to many forum posts of others experiences). I have no reason to think my snakes will get it, but it scares me reading about people losing their entire collection. How common is RI to invade a collection if my husbandry skills are on point?
- I use unprinted newspaper as a substrate and need to mist once per night to get the humidity constantly between 55-65%. Is misting safe? Seems like an easy way to get sick.
- Night time cool side gets to about 74-75. Is that too low? Hot side is about 88 at night. (Not much I can do to keep it at 78-82 at night)
- I will be bringing in 2 new snakes soon. I know the importance of quarantining in a separate room, however, I don't have any other room in the house that I can consistantly keep an ambient temp of 78-82. Is quarantining on the other side of the same snake room and washing hands before handling acceptable?

I just want assure myself that I am doing everything correctly. Please chime in if you have an opinion that will benefit me.

Thanks,

Mike