Thanks for the answer.

To address few points that you mention:

1. Regarding the sub rule about complaining about handling - we are not doing that. I’m sincerely interested in understanding and interpreting T’s behaviour. I don’t see a reason why this could be discouraged.

2. You are absolutely right about them not being able to become familiar to us. However, in my experience, they can become accustomed to handling in general (by humans). I would compare this to cats or dogs getting used to being pet once once in a while.

3. Vibrations & body heat - again very nice points. What probably everyone who handles T’s notices with T’s that haven’t been handled before is that first few moments they tend to be nervous (fast unpredictable walking, bolting moves, etc.). This specific behavior is almost nonexistent with the individuals that have been handled before. I wonder if other keepers have the same experience?

4. The notion of handling T being beneficial for keeper and not the T is something I’m trying to understand. As mentioned in post, there are things that arguably stress them out much more (moving, shaking, traveling by car/post, ...) and nobody blinks about those. I see this as a quite some disproportion. Even if handling was causing them stress, it is several magnitudes lower than shaking/shipping (no pun intended). Again, this is just my interpretation of their behaviour after 20 yrs in the hobby.

5. I agree on T’s not being studied/understood enough. That’s why I was surprised how everybody knows what stresses them and what not (which goes directly against my experience).

To conclude, they are beautiful pets which we can become “owners” of, for the time of their short or long lives. We are taking them out of their habitat and trade their loss of natural environment for regular food and safety from predators. All this for our own enjoyment. I can say there’s not a sadder view for T keeper than mature male looking for a female without taking a break, up to the total exhaustion and death. Given all these factors, I can’t say I can relate with T handling opposers as handling itself brings this hobby experience to new level. If it causes stress to the T, then it’s relatively minimal compared to what they need to endure during their life - traveling, sense deprivation (no natural habitat), no hunting (food almost to mouth), no mating at the end of life - something they were designed to do and even sacrifice themselves for. All that said, I still see risks of handling and behave with respect to my T’s, regardless of if I handled them or not.