Yep we just loosely crumpled a lot of newspaper and filled the empty space with it (right up to the lid) so she could slither around and under it. It seems to immediately calm down snakes and make them feel much more secure. Now we'll gradually remove a bit of the newspaper each week so overtime she gets used to it not being there (that is as long as she continues eating...if not the newspaper will stay till she settles in completely).

I should have taken pics of her peeking out of her hide and under the newspaper. It was really cute! I'll try to catch her doing that again and snap a photo.

When we got big Brannagh from the pet store she was highly aggressive and wouldn't even use her hides. Again with the addition of the newspaper she was able to calm down and retire to her hides to rest (before that she'd just been exhausting herself patrolling her tub constantly and striking at anything that approached).