I got a male baby BP recently, and I have a couple questions concerning what the lady at the reptile store told me...

I have an UTH, and she said I should have both the UTH and a heat lamp. Should I get a heat lamp too, or am I fine with just the UTH..?

Second, she said to give him live hoppers for his first few feedings, then switch him to f/t food. My boyfriend has never had a problem with feeding live to his snake back home, and a coworker of mine never has either. Would it be bad to just keep him to live food as he grows up, or should I really focus on trying to switch him to f/t? My thing is, when he gets large enough for rats, I don't think I'd want to try those live because rats are vicious little buggers and I don't want to risk him getting hurt.
Is it fine to try switching between live and f/t, or should I start pushing for f/t? Besides the fact that live food could potentially harm a BP, are there any other reasons people insist on f/t?

Thank you!