What skeptic said is so true.. about three months ago i was scared of snakes even. Then i stumbled upon SnakeBytesTV (i am a big youtuber) and watched hundreds of their shows... i have probably seen about 88% of their shows.
They were the spark that got me intrigued into snakes but i was not sold. I love animals and all (4 dogs 4 goldfish 1 axolotl) but snakes was something that was over the top for me back then. I started searching on APS for all the info for roughly 2 months changing between my snake of preference from GTP, albino darwin then finally bredli. The change was mainly due to the prices of each, I have planed a trip to thailand at the end of the year and need to save up so i was planning to buy the snake next year after i return... but when i found the bredli i was instantly in love.. they look great and are so cheap! so i decided that the investment of roughly 300 was acceptable for everything inc setup + snake.
Bought my beautiful girl 2 weeks ago and i absolutely love her... When i picked her up and the breeder told me to pick her up and see if i wanted this one or that... i was so stiff. That was my first time i held a snake, not including snake pats at the zoo of course :lol:. i was so scared to pick her up the breeder had to do it for me and place her in my hand LOL.
When she got home i would handle her roughly 4 times a week (this is excess from the views of some breeders but i have limited handling as much as i could... remember she is my first snake and 4 times is a lot better than twice everyday) she has settles in well, on her 2nd feed now and cant wait till she sheds... But i have the same trouble as you Razeunit, the initial grab is the hardest... when i first got her out i would touch her for her to know that im there but since she is a little flighty it stresses her out... after a few times i changed to just reaching in and grabbing, with confidence as snakebytes would say. Works a treat.. they can definately sense the confidence in you and are less likely to get angry.
But my little zora isn't cage defensive most of the time... she may get into a small s but nothing majorly troubling. I know she wont be as bad as as your cage defensive snake Razeunit but in my opinion the confidence really helps, some may say its useless but it sure makes me feel better to pick her up. I'm also one of those do it not and think of the consequences later type of guy so its a little different than everyone else and believe me this trait has put me in many regrets lols.
The key i think is to read your snake, you will know whether or not they are in a mood to bite, if they arent then reach in with confidence and pick them up but if you can tell that they are just use a snake hook, no harm in using it!
Sorry about the long essay haha i just wanted you to know the journey i went to overcome it
but be sure to take some time maybe 30 mins to 1 hour to just watch SnakeBytesTV (or any snake biting on youtube) and get yourself familiarised with the bites it may seem stupid but it got me from being scared of snakes in general to handling one regularly.
Nuttanai