Rookie need advice

[Bogertophis]

... as soon as I walk in the room she starts striking at the air even starts shaking her tail like a rattler...

First off, please understand that snakes see motion very well & they think either "Prey!" or they think "Predator!" They Do Not recognize us visually, & since we're so big, we are classified as a probable predator heading their way, hence the striking & rattling to scare you off. But they don't actually know what we are until we get close enough to fill in the clues: they LEARN to recognize our touch (but a new snake cannot do that yet, & it takes time for them to learn we are safe), they LEARN our scent (again, a new snake has no reference to go by), & for BPs (or other snakes with heat-sensing pits), they recognize us partly by our body heat which so far is still "scary" to her.

Do NOT take it personal...it's not. Snakes are not domestic animals, they RELY on instincts to survive, & for me, the fun part of keeping snakes is communicating to our snakes that we are safe to hang out with. IF we are patient & considerate, most snakes "get it" & become great pets, but they don't all take the same amount of time: partly that's due to genetics, but also I suspect some is due to experience. It is very frightening for a snake to come thru the pet trade, especially if they are shipped also.

Try to imagine being a snake & suddenly your whole world that you knew disappears & you land somewhere else...& then here comes this huge creature... Many people only think in terms of their fear of snakes, but WE are very scary to THEM...especially because they're in a new environment. In the wild, they learn their way around....where to hide & be safe, but now, everything is new and nothing feels safe any more.

A frightened newly-acquired snake is not going to eat. She needs time to settle in, in this case probably 2 weeks+ and do not try to handle her until after she is eating, preferably at least 3 times at normal intervals* before you proceed with any sort of interaction. (How old is this snake? or what size?)