My SO (significant other) brought home a tiny gray rat snake that he had caught outside of a restaurant. We assume he was nearly hatchling age at the time. This was over a month ago. We gave him his first pinkie, which he accepted tentatively, but with no problems. He is growing and thriving. getting much longer, and filling out nicely. Anyway, we gave him lots of time to get used to his environment, and to us, before attempting to hold him. He just gets too stressed. Is it more difficult to get a wild caught snake used to being handled, even though he was extremely young? Any suggestions on how to go about getting the little guy used to being handled, and getting him to relax and trust?
Other question. As I said, this same little snake does eat live pinkies, but he does not strike his prey. Just takes it down his throat head first, and down it goes. Should we be concerned about this. Will the striking instinct kick in soon?

I appreciate any advice you can give.