well, as for backward feeding Lahsa never had a backward feeding. but its fun to see her trying to figure out "where's the damn head!", once it spent more than 3 minutes just to find it

as for removing the hides, well, yeah, i remove them she doesn't seem to be stressed at all , once she's interested in the mouse, she stays still until the mouse gets close to her. if your snake is too shy maybe its a good idea to leave the hidings