No judging here and didn't mean to be a scolding at all...if you don't have access to good info prior to coming here than how can you really be held to it? The fact that your here asking questions says a lot in and of itself and if you keep an open mind, you'll learn a lot.

That sucks about the pet store...unfortunately that type of bad advice in common among pet stores and they often know much less about what they are selling than they lead you to think.

Some other tips,

- Leave the thawed rodent somewhere near the cage for some time to "scent" the area. Ball pythons don't like suprises - smelling a rodent for some time before its offered will "get them in the mood."

- Don't remove the snake from its cage or remove any hides come feeding time. A ball python's envionment is everything to them and altering that can cause their feeding response to shut down. Let them comfortably hunt from the security of their hides.

Hope that helps.