You do get to "blame me" if I'd slammed you. We don't do that at BPNet and as a Mod I'd definitely be in hot water for that.
Anyways, you're not the first to get really bad advice from a so called "reptile expert" at the pet store and sadly you won't be the last. What would be bad is if you did find this new information out then decided to ignore it. You have been willing to listen, to learn and are going to make some great changes for your snakes. I think that's the mark of a good keeper so don't be too hard on yourself okay.