Am I messing up? I got my ball mid year last year and have read on the internet to give them a week or two to adjust before handling then. I did that and when handling it seemed so sketchy and afraid and after 2 months it was still acting super scared of us. Which makes sense, if a giant picked me up I'd freak out regardless of how often it was done. So I decided it was best to give it a rest and just observe and really only handle when necessary. My problem is that I really want to be able to hold em and hang out like one I had as a teen, but I feel that my selfish cuddle wants are outweighed by the snakes apparent stress from it.

So in closing, am I messing up by just barely handling it and allowing it to live or is this just me doing what's best for its stress level?

To answer some questions before they are asked. Has a temperature gradient. A humid hide and a dry hide. A water dish that it can fit in to soak if desired. Eats well on live feeder rats. Normal bowel and urate functions. Paper towel substrate and no mites seen. Has shed twice and is now about the entire length of the 20 gallon tank. Don't know sex or whether it is a morph or not.

This is current set up. After some home renovations and purging I am upgrading the set up.