Well, I'm new to BP keeping, but not to their care. As far as handling time goes, it's really a snake-by-snake case. At the zoo I worked at (being trained to be a future keeper :)), we had two BPs in the education department; one male one female. Both adult, tho the male was younger, and both originally rescues. The male could be handled safely, but only for short jaunts of 10-15 minutes. The female, however, loved to be held! She accepted and perhaps even looked forward to every cuddle she got...at least from me. Once (I kid you not) I had picked her up out of her cage only to notice when she turned her head that her eyes were solid blue! She didn't even flinch.
Anyway, the best thing to do is get to know what your individual snake wants and try to stick with that. As far as the vibration thing, I've seen some pretty wild reactions. Our red-tail boa (at the zoo) would dart out of his hide and start scanning the area whenever anyone ran past.