Unfortunately I've got bad news for my first post, but I'm really just trying to figure out what went wrong, as I'm going to be another snake as soon as possible. My BP (Arthas) died this afternoon, for some reason that wasn't outright apparent. There were no outward signs of trauma, but my wife said that he seemed to be rearing up a lot in the hour or so before he died.
I had him set up in a 10 gallon starter tank with a heating pad and red lamp (80w), average mean temp of 83f, average hotspot temp around 90f. He had a water dish that I kept full, and a hide spot that he fit in easily.
Arthas was about 18in long, about .5-.75in in diameter. The first time I fed him, it was a live fuzzy, and it didn't seem to satisfy him (started acting hungry in about four days, rather than a week, which is what I understand would be normal for a young BP). So, the next time I fed him I got a small mouse (about 3in long) from a chain pet store. He fed right away, just like he was supposed to. This was a week ago Monday (the 9th). Last Wednesday, for some reason, my roommate didn't seem to think it would be a problem to take him out and hold him for a while, despite the fact that the mouse was still obviously being digested (big lump ). A few hours later, he regurgitated the mouse, about half digested.
Since then he seemed a little more agitated than usual, but fine otherwise. I got him a hopper mouse two days ago, which he pretty much ignored (he let it sleep in the hide with him, even inside his coil). This worried me a little, but I didn't think much of it, as the mouse wasn't actively trying to harm him. Yesterday I went into his cage to give him more water, and he essentially asked me to hold him (just wrapped himself right around my arm. I let him stay wrapped on my arm for a few minutes, in which time he threw up about a tablespoon of water. I decided he was probably just agitated and as it was late at night (no animal hospitals w/ emergency rooms near, no reptile vets), I kidded myself that there was nothing wrong and said I'd let it go till I got home from work today. Obviously this was the wrong thing to do.

Here now at the end of my rant lies my real question - did I do wrong my giving him a small mouse instead of a fuzzy/hopper too soon (or in some other way I was caring for him), or is it just possible that he ripped something bringing the mouse back up?