Had to chime in, on this.
My big boy, Brutus, is larger than the snake that was shown on that video. There's no way that snake weighs 400lb. I believe this to be another attempt, by the media, to blow things out of proportion. Brutus is every bit of 18' long and weighs in (as of a few weeks ago) at only 214lb. I'd bet any amount of money that if they take that Florida snake and weigh it, it'd weigh no more than 200lb...a far cry from anything close to 400lb. They showed two grown men handling that snake...it takes 4, to pick up, stretch out and carry around my snake.
While I applaud the good care, that snake was given, this is just another nail in the coffin for us responsible snake keepers. A little bit of common sense and you'd know it's rediculous to keep any large snake in an area where it can escape...one article I read about this incident says the snake had just escaped the day before it was removed.
Now, on to the handling. While I agree that it's imperative that you have help handling large snakes, I do not think it's required for every snake. You do this hobby long enough and you begin to learn your animals, just as if they were dogs or cats. You can tell different attitudes from day to day. There are signs, that my large snakes will give me, that tell me that it's not a good day to handle alone. They may be more inquisitive, more active, seem more aggitated, etc and I'll know that something could go wrong.
Brutus is not handled alone, simply because I cannot pull his 215lb out of the enclosure, put him around my neck and carry him around the house, as I can do with every other snake I have. I'll take my 14' female out, throw her around my neck and carry her around the house, while I'm cleaning her cage. The only thing I have to worry about is her stretching out and knocking things off of shelves, as I walk by.
All Burms are "hissers". This is very normal, very common thing. It doesn't mean they're aggitated or defensive. My 14' female can hiss, I'll laugh at her, tell her stop being so mean and go ahead and pull her out and handle her, with non reservations, what so ever.
All decent to large Retics will continually hiss. Every breath they take, they'll hiss and continue to hiss the entire time they're out of their enclosure. As us long time hobbiests say, they're just "talkers".
Out 10' male Reticulated Python (who's wild caught, come to find out), does not like Heather, at all. She can handle him and he'll strike at her and just generally does not like being around her. He's struck numerous times, at her and not even a minute later, I've walked over, grabbed him and pulled him from his enclosure (fully expecting to get bitten) and he's puppy dog.
You can't get these animals, lock them in cages and expect to keep them there, without handling and think they're going to be ok to handle. You throw a snake in a cage and have no interaction besides cleaning, food and water and good luck. You get a snake and handle it as often as possible, get it used to being handled and 99.9% are going to be completely docile.
Now, after saying all of this...I do keep a bottle of Vodka, in my snake room, in the event that I'm handling alone (home alone) and something happens. They're not puppies and even after 10 - 15 years in captivity, there's always a chance something could go wrong.
It's in human nature to mistrust the unknown, especially if it doesn't fit the usual standard of "cute". 
