I would say a few things. The snake was stressed from being in a new place, the snake was cornered, and third your roomate could have had a different sent on his hand. Odds are it was the first two, just a defensive strike.

Paper towls are OK to start with. You will be able to see if the snake has mites or parasites. You can change to newspaper if you want. Different people use different things. Some use aspen, kraft paper, and so on and so on.

Just my thoughts on it.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
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1.0 Green Ananconda
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