Hissing or Breathing heavily?

So, I've never seen many snakes hiss. I've heard many cats hiss, and that's all I have for comparison.

We haven't handled Snickets yet, but I kinda want to try today even though she's in shed. I was just wondering, when I pick her up is there a good chance she'll exhale deeply so that I'll hear it? I think I've heard her exhale a few times and I didn't know if it was that or a hiss. It sounded more like a breath to me. Also her mouth wasn't open.

I know that even if she gets hissy on me the best thing to do is ignore it so she doesn't start to think hissing will make me go away. I just wanted to know the difference for the sake of knowing.

possible RI any mucus?

Ball pythons can hiss pretty loudly when disturbed. I have a few that hiss at me ALL the time. It just means the snake is grumpy.

no it's not an RI. She's healthy. She hasn't been handled at all but maybe once or twice, and she's almost 3 months old. So the whole handling and people getting near her is still new.

Like I said, I just wanted to know if there's an audible difference between a hiss and a deep breath.

my snake hisses at me somtimes but it's realy low so i can barly hear it :)