My new bci/first boa!!

[Bogertophis]

...Worst part of this is going I be willingly keeping lights only for heat for a bit until he settles in, but have the heatmat and thermostat ready. Might wait a week to feed him but he’s ready to eat, first meal here will be the quail.

I would change to the thermostatically controlled heat-mat right away, to make sure he doesn't regurgitate when you first feed him. Better to have him consistently warmer than to copy what his previous owner did. The trouble with overhead lights is that the heat mostly rises up up & away from where the snake actually is...it's very hard to provide "tummy" (bottom) heat that way, & since he's not a baby boa, I don't think some minimal handling while you fix things up will cause him much stress...especially since you say he came to you feeling "ice cold"...poor snake! (remember that even snakes at room temperature of 72* feel cold to us, because we're so much warmer at 98.6*)

Boas are not usually fussy eaters...I'd be very surprised if, after he has some nice proper tummy-heat, that he hesitates at all to inhale the quail. Very surprised indeed...