Aside from a strict quarantine situation I'm not seeing any reason to restrict a captive snake's choices to only flat substrate and a single hide.
I'd rather offer multiple hides as well as a variety of texture choices. I often put different substrate types in each half of an enclosure, and most of my snakes also have basking shelves that provide a choice between a smooth surface texture and a piece of reptile carpet (this is washed weekly or as needed). My snakes make regular use of all of the choices available to them, ranging from deep substrate to the bare surface of basking shelves. The only reason I can see for a plain flat paper substrate is during quarantine. Over the years I have become less and less willing to accept breeders' use of bare paper, as I've increasingly become unable to agree that keeper convenience should outweigh quality of life for the animals, but that's another topic altogether.
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