It's great that you want to interact more with your snake; but, by your own words, he has gone "a number of years" with minimal handling... you can't expect him to be calm about it when it is suddenly being forced upon him. Take it slowly, and keep handling periods short. Basically, you have to let the snake get used to being touched/handled; and that means minimizing stress through the process. A good place to start is partially lifting his body while he's in his enclosure - let him crawl over your fingers. If he doesn't get agitated, you can do it a few times each session. If the enclosure is large enough, progress to using both hands... eventually lifting the whole snake. When it is tolerating that well, take it out of the enclosure. It's not likely to just stay still in your hands - so move your hands as the snake crawls, in order to keep it supported (as it crawls off one hand, move that one forward under its body... you'll be doing sort of an elliptical, hand under hand shuffle. It may turn & crawl up your arm, which is fine. It will appreciate the extra support. Don't be surprised if it crawls into your shirt at the collar (or sleeve)... and don't freak out if/when it gets by your face.
Good luck
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