I think it may depend on your animal(s). For us, it seems our girls are "done" being handled after about an hour or so; Cleo will start constantly trying to hide in the crevice of the chair, Carmen won't sit still after a long period of being very calm.

What's fun is that our bp will usually stay active in her cage for another hour or two after we put her back in, so we get to enjoy watching do her thing (slither, drinky, slither, think about peeing, slither, stare into space, slither - it's a busy life). =D