Hello, my name is Todd and I've read some good posts while visiting the forum for the last couple of days. It looks like this is the place to be for info on ball pythons.
In the past I owned several reptiles (boas, pythons, monitors, rat snakes, etc), but that was more than 15 years ago..so I'm a bit rusty. I picked up a young ball python from a local breeder yesterday, and have a few questions on first feedings, etc. I looked around in the 'sticky' section but didn't see what I was looking for...so forgive me if I'm asking a common question.
Here are the stats on my young male bp:

He is currently approx 18" (didn't measure, just compared to the tank)

Captive bred by a local person who breeds for hobby

He ate an adult mouse last Thursday, and has been a solid eater (according to her)

Currently I have him in a 20H with a Walgreens heating pad under one side, a hw store light on top of the screen cover (which is approx 3/4 covered with duct tape). Newspaper substrate, 2 hides, 1 water dish. As of this morning it was 86 degrees on the warm side (sticker type thermometer 1/2way up the back wall of the aquarium), and 80 degrees on the cool side.

He had a bm overnight

Here are my questions:

When should I attempt to feed for the first time?

Is it okay to start with frozen, or should I go with live for the first feeding and transition to frozen?

I plan on feeding in a separate enclosure. Should I begin doing this with the first feeding, or wait until he has eaten a few times?

He wants to hang out in the cool side. And since the tank isn't terribly warm at this point, is that a sign of stress, or should I cool down the heating pad and see if that encourages him to the warm side?

How long should I wait before we can begin to handle regularly? Can we begin after the first successful feeding, or wait a couple of weeks regardless of his feeding? (My 5 year old can hardly stand it)

Sorry for the long post..glad there is a forum for this kind of thing--back in the day it was much harder to get advice from experts.

here is a pic of the little guy: