I've had my ball for about 4 months now. When I first got him, he had a tick. Pulled it off, he was fine. I had some kind of bark chips(don't remember the name) in there for a while. I went down to the river and got some dead wood to to put in his tank(55gall.). I soaked the wood in bleach, and put it in the oven for hours to bake it and kill anything that would have been in or on it. Well, a month later, he had about 3 little ticks on him. So, about a month ago, I cleaned out the entire tank, put different bedding in,(not sand, but a hair bigger pieces then sand, repti somthing, sorry. It is all natural.) Anyway,cleaned the whole thing and checked him over. Now today, I look on his back, he has one that was half the size of a dime!! If not a little bigger!!! So, I pullled it off, checked him out, and there weren't any more. WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM??? Do mice that you get to feed them possibly have them?? This is driving me nuts!!!!! I also have plastic leaves hanging in there for the jungle look. I've cleaned them several times as well! ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!! Thanks. P.S.- the ticks are a light greyish color.