Sounds pretty decent to me. Looks like your doing a good job. Also Aspen is okay to use, but you have to move the BP out of its enclosure to feed so your BP doesn't ingest the Aspen. Iv used Paper Towels for substrate on a Beardie before and to be honest its not easy to clean. But if you like using it thats fine. Also I'm glad you joined to further your education on Ball Pythons.