my adult BP is mellow and fine with being handled at any time, but I'm a little more careful with my juvenile as she's a little more skittish and jumpy if I go in too fast or touch her tail by accident. you'll definitely want to lift up the hide to get it out - nothing wrong with that and I do it 99.9% of the time too, but give it a gentle mid body stroke to let it know you are approaching.... I think, mostly because they can be sleeping and startle easily. also be careful not to handle too often or too long. I don't know what the guidelines are for this, but I generally handle mine a couple of times a week, and for 15 minutes or so at a time. sometimes I'll let my adult BP curl up next to me while I'm playing guitar for a while but I'm not exactly handling her during this time.