Newbie question about moving/disturbing starter
Hello! I am brand new to sourdough baking and am working on establishing a starter. I feel like I have a general understanding of some of the basics, but I do have three questions that I would appreciate some help with. Thank you in advance! :)
1. I feel very silly asking this, but is there any harm in picking up, bumping, moving, etc. my starter? This can cause it to loose its rise/deflate some, but it won't hurt the starter health, right? It would make it harder for me to know when it is ready for a feed, but otherwise wouldn't affect anything? I keep picking it up to look at it.
2. Is it okay to stir a starter to get air air between feedings? I did this once, but now I am worried that I messed something up. I have pretty air-tight saran wrap on mine.
3. Am I correct in thinking that there isn't really a way to guess in the early stages which starter would be the best between two? Here are two pictures of day 5 1/2 (5.5) of my two starters. I am trying two slightly different methods to see which one I can get to work and then plan to discard the other. It was taken about 5 hours after a feeding. If any expert eyes see anything in the pictures I should adjust/know, that would help me.
Thank you again!