Hi - first welcome to the forum! And Zeke is a gorgeous ball python, so congrats on him.
I would encourage you to check out our caresheet on setting him up properly. I'd also suggest you go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a dimmer temporarily to control your heat source until you can order a thermostat - you can get one from http://www.reptilebasics.com
I am also an animal lover and I hate feeding day. I do feed live to all of my animals (about 50 at last count). It does get a little easier, but it's still hard, but the snakes have to eat. I do give away a few rats a year to pet homes when people contact me, which makes me feel a little better about the breeding and raising of rats to be food.
As for feeding in the bathtub - it's really not necessary. You can feed Zeke in his enclosure. I feed all of mine in their enclosures, and I don't have any cage aggression, because I'm going into their enclosures multiple times during the week, not just on feeding day, so they don't assume that every time I open their enclosures that food is coming. And it reduces stress from having to move them after just eating.
You should be warned though - ball pythons are like potato chips - you can't have just one!
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