Hey Jack,
BPs are normally shy and very hesitant to bite. But, it does happen. Mine has never shown any sort of aggression towards me or anyone else, so I can't tell you exactly what a bite would feel like. What I can tell you is that, although it will be uncomfortable, it is essentially nothing to worry about. Pythons have sharp teeth that point backward, so you will feel some pain, but how much is dependent on the size of the snake. You mentioned he is still fairly small, so the discomfort should be minimal. Also, if it is a defensive strike, it may not even really bite you. These strikes are usually more of just a fast, hard bump of the mouth against your hand. He's just letting you know he is scared, and see's you as a predator. However, if he's striking out of hunger, he may hang on for a second until he realizes you're not food. If he does, you'll probably just walk away from the ordeal with some small puncture wounds, but it'll be nothing worse than an ornery kitten would do to you. The main thing is, if you ever want him to calm down, he has to be handled. If he thinks he is scaring you away with this attitude, he'll keep it up. You just need to show him you mean no harm.
Take a look at some of the things that might be causing the behavior. Is he hungry? How often are you feeding him? Do you handle anything he might consider prey before trying to handle him? I've had snakes go wild because they smell my girlfriend's dog on my hands. Make sure you wash your hands before you pick him up. Is he getting ready to shed? That could cause irritable behavior; though, if this has been going on for a couple of months, that's probably not the cause.
You may want to try picking him up with a hook. I've had snakes that just hate seeing a hand come down on top of them. They freak out. But, if I pick them up with the hook, and then gently lay them in my hand, no problems. You don't need a professional hook; if the snake is still fairly small, you can make one out of an old coat hanger. Just make sure you cover up any sharp edges. Or, you may just want to try wearing some gardening gloves next time you go in after him. It'll take some, if not all, of the sting out of the bite if he does get ahold of you. After he realizes you're not going to eat him, you should be able to lose the gloves fairly quickly.
Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes...
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-JH
1.0 Amel Corn
1.0 Dot-Dash Cal King
0.1 50/50 Cal King
1.1 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
3.4 Baby Corns (Assorted Flavors)
0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Bullsnake
0.0.1 Texas Long-nose
1.1 Bearded Dragons
