New iPod Touch unusable because my Apple ID doesn't exist anymore after changing it

I recently got a new Gen 6 iPod Touch for my birthday. I had changed my email address on my Apple account to an email I actually use (charter.net to gmail.com) the day before. Here's where it all went downhill: I signed in with my newly changed email - the gmail one - during the setup for the iPod only to have it say I'm logged in with my charter account. My previous Apple ID doesn't exist anymore (as in, I can't even log into apple's website) cause I changed it so now my iPod is absolutely useless because I can't disable this account because there is no way to login to something that doesn't exist.
Basically, my question is: how do I fix this or do I have to send it back? I've tried a factory reset but the iPod is still connected to my old non-existent account. Is there anyway to completely destroy every last trace of this account so I can just make a new account and go from there? Also, there are no backups from this iPod because I never got to sync it. I have a 4th Gen iPod Touch that I currently use which has backups but I see no way to use this to fix my new iPod.

Thank you to anyone who has any suggestions!