The soaking is BS unless your snake is dehydrated and your just trying to get it to drink, although it can be a way to help remove some of the retained shed. If you have the proper conditions in the cage it isn't necessary. The rest of the setup sounds OK, but if you can put up some photos of the whole enclosure and tell us what your using to measure temps and humidity, we can see if anything needs tweaked. Your vet was right about getting rid of the hot rock at least, and the CHE will save you money on bulb replacements in the long run. Also, with it fighting the RI, I wouldn't recommend trying to pump food. Save that for when it's feeling better. What is the snakes weight, and what and how often were you feeding it before? And are you sure it's a male? Can't really make a suggestion on feeding until I know these things.