Completely depends on the snake, and your set up.
For any glass tank or PVC cage set up I would offer two hides, but for every BP that never shows it's face outside of a hide, I'm sure someone will have a story about a BP who thinks it's a corn snake.
I would also offer two hides in a tub set up, depending on where the tub is located (high traffic or low traffic area) and how clear the plastic is.
For racks, many keepers don't use any hides at all, though I do offer two and they both get utilized. I haven't done any experimentation on reducing the number of hides in my rack tubs, because it's not really any harder to leave them in there than to take them out, and they do seem to bet used.
Should they be identical? Yeah, it makes sense to me that they should, but I'm sure there are snakes out there who wouldn't show a prefrence. I only use RBI hides, so all mine happen to be identical.
Reply With Quote