I think you have to do what works for that specific snake in your specific enclosure. Some ball pythons are incredibly shy or very picky about what hides they will use, others aren't. Some live in open glass enclosures in a busy livingroom, others live in dark racks in a quiet snake room.
Generally when we give advice here we try to give the basics, the most common sense, general advice that will start a newcomer to snakekeeping off on a good track. As they develop their own sense of what works for their own snake, they'll change and tweak things and that's a good thing really as long as it's always done for the benefit of that snake.
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