(TW: written gore) Difficult BP + Horrifying Nightmares: What next?

[Malum Argenteum]

By the way, smakemom- BPs are often touted as great beginner snakes (mostly because they are docile & remain a manageable size), but I think that's very misleading. There is SO much you have to get just right, & sadly, the overselling of BPs to beginners just sets some owners up for failure, in my opinion. Even if you do decide to rehome him, I hope you don't give up on snakes altogether...but give it some time.

This, so much this, both on misleading advertising and not writing off snakes entirely.

I don't breed BPs (though I have kept one for 15 years now), but I do work with a small handful of other snake species that are pretty far to each end of the continuum of complication regarding their care. I do try to sway novice keepers toward a species that is tolerant of cage parameters (so, not rainbow boas) and also is known to not have periodic feeding issues (so, not hognose). Milksnakes and rosy boas are snakes I work with that I like to recommend for first time keepers, but there are certainly many others that folks here could suggest.