I'm late to this discussion, but wanted to add something I haven't read so far.
With our BP, she handles well BUT recoils into her hide or otherwise retreats if we approach her either too quickly or from the front. I think she confuses the act of reaching for her from the front with an aggressive movement or possibly an attack. If we slowly approach her from the side, aiming for the body and not the head or neck, she "might" have a momentary flinch when we first touch her (usually not, but it happens), but generally she's much more relaxed. I will also give a couple of strokes down her body, going with the direction of her scales and not against it, and this also seems to relax her to the point where she doesn't resist being picked up.
We also don't handle her a couple of days before we feed her, as she's getting hungry and more likely to misinterpret your presence as food, or for 3 days after we feed her to ensure there's no chance of regurgitating.
We've never had any problems by following these simple rules. Best of luck!
Ian
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