Why do some people return their ball pythons?

[hihit]

I'm an admin on a large Facebook group dedicated to Ball Pythons, and without going into rant mode I'll just say it can be a pretty rough world out there for a pet snake.

Surrendering/rehoming/giving up Ball Pythons is sickeningly common. So much so that two big reptile rescues that I know of are now refusing to accept any more surrendered BPs because they are just flooded with them.

These are the most common reasons I see for getting rid of Ball Pythons. There are others, but these crop up most frequently. As in daily. But I promised I wouldn't rant:

Purchased for kid. Kid loses interest.
Purchased for kid. Snake is fearful/defensive. Family decides it's 'mean'.
Kid buys snake. Parent hates/is terrified of snake.
Purchased because so many recommend them as a great beginner pet. Snake spends the majority of its time in its hide and only comes out late at night. Family decides that's no fun.
Purchased because so many recommend them as a great beginner pet. Snake refuses to eat. Family decides that there's no solution and/or that recommended husbandry adjustments are too expensive.
Purchased because so many recommend them as a great beginner pet. Buys 'kit' recommended by pet shop. Learns that 'kit' is mostly useless, virtually everything in it needs to be dumped, and there's lots of new stuff they need to buy. Decides it's all too expensive/too much trouble.
College student purchases. Can't afford to keep it properly.
Student moves and can't have reptiles in new place and/or new roommates hate snake.
Renter purchases snake before checking lease requirements and either discovers that pets are prohibited, and/or their landlord objects to a reptile pet, and/or tries to hide snake from landlord.
Snake gets a respiratory infection, scale rot, or suffers a burn due to bad husbandry. Owner decides veterinary care is too expensive.
Keeper develops relationship with new significant other who hates snakes.
Significant family disruption (divorce, death in family, etc.) with nobody available who's willing to care for snake.
Snake owner caves in to one of the current problems in the Ball Python world: "There are so many beautiful morphs, and I can keep these snakes in racks, so I want all of them!". Snake owner buys many snakes in a short period of time, becomes overwhelmed and gets rid of snakes.

All through undergrad and grad school I had snakes and other pets, so I know it's possible to make it work as a student. But I also know that it was often wickedly difficult and that when I was living on a student budget I sometimes had to make some very tough choices in order to provide good care for my animals. I'm nobody special but at the same time, it requires a particular sort of person and unwavering dedication to handle some of the challenges of keeping pets in the years before you can have your own home.

Very thorough response. Thank you for this.