Welcome to the site.

I have used newspaper, repticarpet, and aspen(lizardlitter, i think) as a substrate. of the three, I prefer newspaper the most. Cheap and easy to clean. I did use plain paper towels when I first got both of my bps. It is easier to monitor for possible mites, ticks, etc. with paper towel substrate.

Any advice, let me think...

Since you just got the little one, make sure you give it a week or two with no handling so that it can settle in with as little stress a possible. After the bp feeds twice or so, you should be good to handle a bit. Make sure you do not handle for 2 days after feeding.

Also, Make sure your temperatures are correct and constant. A thermostat is very good to have to regulate the temperature of the UTH. If you do not want to spend the money on a thermostat, a dimmer would work if you have good and constant room temperatures. Check out www.mgreptiles.com , Matt (justcage) posts on this site and is very good at answering questions if you email him.


Hope that helps some. I kinda condensed some stuff. Let us know if you have any questions.