I give all my snakes hides and they all are fine. My 7' boa doesn't really use her hide much anymore but she still has one and she is super mellow. Even her vet and nurse both were amazed how mellow she was even when the vet stuck a needle in her nose to take a sample of her sinus infection. She didn't even flinch or hiss.
My 5' sunglow doesn't use her hide anymore really either except to sit on top of.
My retic still uses his hides but its hit or miss. Sometimes he sits in them, other times he sits outside. And I can reach in and pick him up fine. If he gets pissy, it only involves him pushing my hand away with his body or going inside his hide.
Even my 11 month old salmon dh snowglow boy isn't shy and he has 3 hides. he sits in them but always has his head or half his body poking out of them.
I believe every snake should be offered a hide. it gives them that secure feeling they need to help them mellow out. And with age, a lot of boas quit even using them as well as retics. But again, I always offer them as even my big ones will use them sometimes when in shed.
Now if you are talking racks, I can understand that as the rack itself IS the hide.
And all of my snakes are mellow too. I have never even hook trained any of them and I can reach in above them or whatever and just drag them out. Heck half the time, I just leave one door open on their AP cages for hours while I watch TV and they just sit there either with just their head sitting on the litter dam or hanging down looking at the floor. Then they get bored and most of the time will go back in the cage and either go curl up in the back corner and go to sleep which I then close the door or they just sit curled up in front of the open door which is mostly what the retic or Rosey my 7' girl girl does.
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