It took me about 3 days to figure out the "strike pose". I had a stressed snake. You can just feel her tense up, raise her head rigid and pull back on an S-shape and look very alert. She went like that everytime there's fast movement around her head. But then, she never really struck. My husband would just put his palm open slowly and deliberately on top of her head and she would pull back into the "ball" and my husband would then just go pick her up and she starts to chill once she realizes we're not out to get her. After a few days of this, she got used to getting picked up. She still does the strike pose when she doesn't want to be bothered. She is a prissy chick!