I'm glad things are working.
I just thought I'd point out one thing. You may be misunderstanding the use of a hook. Many of us use it to alert the snake with a body rub, and then use it to redirect the head should they turn and want to strike. Once alerted and in position, the snake is still picked up by hand.
Occasionally with lighter, semi arboreal snakes you can let the front end of the snake crawl through the hook and cradle the rest of the body on your free arm which is similar their use of branches in the wild. Arboreal and semi arboreal snakes are more accommodated to reaching with less support.
In your case, with a completely terrestrial and heavy bodied snake, it would be used to alert and redirect only.
The advantage is a hook will get you a little more added distance VS paper towels or something else. The disadvantage is if they strike the hook hard, it could hurt their mouth.
It sounds like things are working out, but thought I'd clarify that using a hook doesn't necessarily mean "hooking" the snake.
Beautiful python you have.
Enjoy!
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