Hey everyone, first time poster here. I've had my female Paprika for about 6 months now and I had kept her in a 50 gal glass cage. A week ago I aquired another ball python (a male) and bought a rack to put them both in. The rack holds the CB70 size tubs. Paprika has always been a very gentle and calm animal and has never hissed before.

Ever since moving her she's been acting scared and jumpy. The day after moving them was feeding day and she refused, which I expected since she was adjusting to a new environment. But I can hear her hissing in her tub every once and a while, even if I'm not moving around in the room or bothering her. Almost every time I open the tub to check temps or bump up the humidity she hisses at me. I've had to take her out a couple times to adjust things and once I pick her up she's fine.

She's pretty big at 2500g so at first I didn't think she would need a hide. Once I noticed the hissing and jumpy behavior I cut a shoebox to the exact width of her tub, and she used it for a few hours, but after a while I heard her thrashing around in the tub and I opened it to discover she had gotten herself stuck in between the cardboard and plastic somehow, like REALLY stuck I could hardly get her out. So I took that hide out.

Basically what I'm wondering is, is she hissing because she's still not adjusted to the tub after a week? Is it because she can smell my new male? Does she need a hide? If she needs a hide, any suggestions on what to use so she won't hurt herself by getting stuck? The large reptile basics hide is too small for her but Jumbo won't fit in the tub.