If you need something more discreet than a glass tank, could you at least get a large plastic bin as big as the tank he had before? And also, big enough to put all his hides in?
FWIW, ball pythons feel secure in hides when they can feel the walls against the sides of their body. The "tub is the hide" thing makes it dark and secluded, but doesn't provide that same tactile feeling of security. Sort of like how lots of people like sleeping under a blanket, even if the room is warm enough not to need one. So that could be one thing missing in the tub.
Even if it's "just" that there's something sharp or rough in there, mashing his face until it bleeds is a sign that something is really not working. Snakes do actually encounter rough objects and sharp-ish edges in the wild and in enclosures with natural materials such as rocks and branches, and they generally manage not to scrape up their faces - again, unless something is really wrong.
One other thing I would check though - is it possible that he got some substrate or some other foreign object stuck in this mouth last time he ate, and he's been rubbing his face trying unsuccessfully to dislodge it?
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