Patchy Python's first meal!

[Snowberry]

Yesterday afternoon, Patch was alot more active than he usually is. Since he's been going through a bad shed after being recently purchased from a petshop, he hasn't been enjoying himself like a normal snakey should. Following the advice of some very knowledgable site members, I gave him a little vacation from being soaked and handled and I just kept his moss a little watter. The other day, he came out of the cave, which is a huge WOW because he NEVER comes out of that cave! I watched him real carefully and determined that he was following the kitten from inside the tank. I thought it was funny at first but thinking about it, I'm a little uneasy now!

I decided to give him another shot with Ralph, the sterile, young-adult mouse. I did a couple things differently this time. For one, I put both the snake and the mouse in the plant-bucket, which is just a five-gallon bucket in which I grow live moss to be frozen and used as substrate later on. I figured the natural environment would help him feel comfortable. Also, I gave Patch a few minutes to get comfortable with his surroundings (he is a new snake after all) before I put the mouse in with him. He struck at him several times quite persistantly, and I knew he'd get him eventually. After about four minutes, he sprung like lightning around that mouse and gulped him down within the hour (after the mouse was dead, I let him eat in privacy).

But now we have a few problems.
For one, Patch is so fat he can hardly move!
For another, his light mysteriously stopped working today. The box said 3000 hours. It lasted from the sixteenth to today. Whether that was 3000 or not, it was a huge waste of twenty bucks. And now my baby needs to live next to the baseboard heater, which does not give him the basking area he needs. Plus, since his cage is still quite wet from when he was shedding, if he leaves his cave he will be sliding through cold water.. With a big old mouse in his tummy!

I'm going to the hardware store in a bit to see if they have anything to tide him over until I can get back to the petshop an hour away.
Anything I should avoid/look for while I am there? I don't want Patch to fry/freeze!