We handle ours all the time. I bought my wife a female bumblebee she had to have. It didn't eat the first 3 weeks of being in it's new home. She held it a couple times the first week and almost everyday since. the 4th week it ate a rat pink, the 5th 2 rat pinks, the 6th a rat pup, the 7th 2 rat pups. She hasn't stopped eating. All my others eat weekly unless they're shedding, and most of the time they'll eat then too.