Depends on the snake. I keep hides in my racks. Some of mine might do okay without them, but others would boycott food forever if I took away their hide. I found these awesome plastic bowls at the dollar store. The smaller ones for babies were 3 for $1 and the larger ones for my 600+ gram babies (I know they aren't babies....lol) were 2 for $1. The smaller ones I could cut a hole with scissors, the larger ones I used a dremel tool to cut the hole, smooth it out, then melted the edges with a lighter.
The only ones that get hides in my rack are babies and tough feeders. Most do just fine in a rack without hides, but I think being in a quiet room helps.