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Nuzzle then nip sounds more like a food response (hmmmmmmmm this smells like it might be edible, let's taste it and see) than defensiveness, which is usually a fast bite and retreat. Try putting something like lemon-scent hand sanitizer on your hands before picking her up to see if that stops the behavior; the sharp smell should turn off any food response.
I can't help with an appropriate size for her age, but do bear in mind that most snakes in captivity are overfed, and a slightly underweight snake is preferable to one that has been grown up quickly or allowed to get fat. Based on your picture I would say that the snake is fine, as it's square and not round so it's not been overfed, and the spine is not protruding so it's not underweight.
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