Is there a good or bad time of the day to be handling my bp

We have handled our bp a couple of times now. Today I lifted up his hide to take him out, he was at the back wall facing the front so I broight my hand in towards the side and pet him and could see he curled into a tighter ball as I did. I took this as a sign that he didnt want to be handled so I slowly pulled my hand out and went to put his hide back over him and he tried to strike at the hide. Surprisingly it didnt phase me at all being my first time getting lunged at but di I do something wrong? I decided to leave the hide out till he moves over to the other side.

I'm no expert here, so I'm not sure if there's really a "bad" time, but I try not to disturb mine during daytime hours just to minimize stress. I handle and feed him at night when he comes out on his own. During the day I simply spot clean and change his water.

Yeah, there's no "right" or "wrong" time of day to handle them. I normally try to handle mine in the late afternoon/evening because I've found that she usually decides to start roaming after I put her back, but you can handle them during the day with no problem too. The only real time you should definitely avoid handling is for the 2 days after they've eaten, but I'm sure you probably already knew that :P

I'm not sure exactly why he struck at you. If it was in the middle of the day, you could have startled him a bit if you woke him up. Some bps are more defensive about being disturbed than others. The only other possibility is that he's going into shed since a lot of them tend to be more crabby around that time, but it sounds more like he was just scared of the "big dark thing" (the hide) when you went to put it back over him. It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong though.

The only thing I would recommend is that next time if he starts to ball up just pick him up anyway. Yes, it does technically mean that they don't want to be picked up, but he will eventually come out of his ball after he realizes you're not going to eat him :)

Here's how I decide to handle them.

If I see them out climbing around, then I figure it's a good time. I know if I'm in my bed sleeping and somebody comes to screw with me I don't appreciate it, so I figure most animals are the same.

I don't think snakes can really learn much, but who knows. Maybe it will come to associate climbing around to being let out and being in it's hide to being left alone.

I appreciate the comments guys thanks for the advice. :)