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This is from proexotics.com,,,check out the FAQ's there plus the caresheets here and they can answer alot of your questions I bet.
Proper hidespots- Check out our Hidespot FAQ for a more detailed breakdown of hidespot theory, but I will cover the basics here. Your snakes want a hidespot that provides security. A hide that is dark, small, and low to the ground. Big open caves or logs provide shelter, perhaps, but no security at all. 99% of the hidespots you find at your local retail reptile store have been designed with YOU (a human being) in mind. Something pretty, something flashy, those absolutely dumb half logs, it is all about appealing to your eye, and very little thought has been put into the actual needs of the reptile. They want to be protected from the predators in the wild, the birds that will scoop them off the ground, those #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^& monitor lizards that will hunt them through the bushes. If a hidespot is tight and secure enough, you will have a heck of a time pulling them out of it. Of course, when you just lift it right off the top of them, I think it might very well ruin their day, but that is another matter. The point is that until you exhibit your truly massive human intellect, they will feel secure, safe, and at some kind of peace. That is a lot of anthropomorphizing, and I hate that, but I guess we can feel all warm and fuzzy for a moment or two…
Nature provides great hidespots. When you provide captive hidespots, you can be quite creative, but try and keep in mind the basic theory. Flat cork bark laid flat on the ground makes a good hidespot for smaller snakes, especially babies. They will shimmy right underneath it and feel completely crevice-safe. Borrowing from our monitor lizard husbandry, for arboreal monitors like the Green Trees, we have constructed "cork sandwiches", in which we zip tie two flat pieces of cork together, and their natural gentle curve creates a slightly larger crevice type space of which the animals make good use. We secure these sandwiches up in the higher branches of the cage, although they would certainly be of good use terrestrially as well, and the tight wedge security is well appreciated by snakes.
We have adapted many non-reptile products to our hidespot needs, and had some very good success. From the thousands (it seems) of Rubbermaid trash cans in our facility, we have found that the trash can lids make an excellent large footprint, low profile, hidespot. We have found a number of gardening products that work well, including a thin, black plastic seedling plant tray that meets all of our hidespot criteria, at a price well under a dollar per unit.
The more traditional clay pot plant bases are also a good choice. They have a large footprint, but they are low to the ground, and you need only crack a small opening for the animal to get inside. We use a lot of the Vision bowls in our facility, and those have a hollow base underneath, which is a favorite hidespot of both monitors and snakes. If you take a moment to peruse a few hundred photos, you can see all of the hidespots described here (and more) in the various galleries, including the Facility photos. (or do not pass go, and find yourself immediately in Hidespot FAQ jail here)
We don't really sell hidespots on our site, nonetheless, they are an
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