I dont remove anything from the tub when I feed or the snake jsut cowers and hides. I made the mistake of removing the hide the last time I tried to feed and the snake just slithered away from the mouse. I just put the hide in yesterday and found out it was to big but right now I just wnat to let the snake digest the rat before I remove that hide with a smaller one. I dont wanna a regurge but I am going to replace it with a smaller one.