Hatclings out of the egg (pre-shed)) need a damp (I am mean soaked) substrate (not dry with high huidity) and paper towel allows that without harboring bacteria like caret so it is the opposite of your thinking.
Hatch date to first shed you are looking at 10 to 14 days for an healthy animal, animal with issues or sometime the exception may take longer up to several weeks (rare), usually once they shed they get their first meal (live hopper mouse), now if the animal does not shed within 10 to 14 days you need to feed around that time as you cannot wait weeks for it to shed.
