Stimmies commonly shelter under exfoliated rocks, such as on granite outcrops where dry sand and grit have accumulated with the wind. So it is news to me that this is irritating to them.
This and your previous post are a load of codswallop. Why do you persist in using terms and concepts you don’t understand? For your own benefit, get a physics book and do some reading so you do.
[doublepost=1599118459,1599046120][/doublepost]To achieve the heat gradient and basking spot temperatures required at the base of the cage, a simple and cost effective method would be to put in a home-made heat tile of 30 sq. cm using a 25W heat cord. It would require a hole about 10 mm drilled in the bottom back corner through which to thread the heat cord. Instructions can be found here:
https://www.aussiepythons.com/forum...-heat-panel-in-australia.226830/#post-2536259. Instead a recessed wooden base you can simply thread the cord through a same sized piece of 10 mm corflute. You don’t even have to put a tile on top of this if you don’t want to.
Your existing hide is far too large for the size of the snake. This is a common shortcoming very much perpetuated by the majority of pet stores. Ideally hides should be a snug fit with an entry hole just big enough for the snake to fit through comfortably. For your snake something about the size of a muesli bar box with just the top corner torn off would be much more suitable. A number of these positioned along the cage will allow the snake to rest where it is most comfortable. These sort of boxes as hides can be made to look more natural by placing them under stiff curved pieces of bark or by coating them with pieces of paper bark.
Another option
A lower cage with greater floor area would be more desirable. This could be achieved by putting in a shelf and linking it with the cage bottom. You can use the existing branch poking through a suitable hole in the shelf to connect them. This also gives you another alternative to the heat tile on the floor. You could use the heat cord as a radiant heat panel under part of the shelf, which could supply heat to both levels. A 25W cord should the trick. Here is a photo of this sort of set up and the thread address from which it came (by Pythonmum):
https://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/threads/tv-cabinet-another-diy-conversion.201407/#post-2328572
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Just experiment with spacing the loops before you fix them in place. With the reduced height of the upper level your existing heater would not lose so much heat to the air and be more effective. A reflective dome on this heating fixture would further help in this respect. You might even be in a position to consider putting it on a wire mesh opening on the top of the cage, only just big enough to hold the dome. Again, this will depend on the height of the top level.
Why hides should be snug
Where do you find snakes hold up in the wild? In small spaces – under rocks and logs, at the back of tight rock crevices, under or between sheets of corrugated iron lying flat on the ground etc. Snakes should fit snugly into a hide for two reasons. Firstly, it makes them feel more secure. If they can feel the top and sides of their retreat around them, then they know a potential predator cannot open its jaws wide enough to grab them. Secondly, it helps them conserve water. Their kidneys are extremely efficient and they can convert all of their liquid urates to dry uric acid if need be. That leaves breathing as their other potential major source of water loss. Due to the inside surface of the lungs having to remain constantly coated with a thin film of water (for oxygen to dissolve so it can enter cells) the air they breathe out is always 100% humid. The relative humidity of the air they breathe in, therefore, determines how much water is lost. By being able to confine most of their exhaled air within a retreat allows the humidity to build up and their water loss to therefore be reduced. This is also the reason why snakes are only active at cooler times of the day or at night during hot, dry weather. The amount of moisture air can carry depends very much on the air's temperature. As temperature increases, the carrying capacity increases markedly, causing relative humidity to drop sharply.
Home-made natural looking hides
A mate’s son made him an excellent small ‘igloo style’ hide using plaster of Paris, a toilet roll (cut in half longitudinally) and a bowl from a kid’s plastic tea. The roll and the bowl were only used to mould the plaster around, until it began to set. The finished product was a flattened oval shaped chunk that looked like a white lump of rock. After painting it an orange-brown ochre colour, it looked great, just like a piece of rock from the Pilbara. He reckoned that with the next one he was going to incorporate orange, brown and black grout colouring, not fully blended but streaky, into the plaster mix. He was also considering rolling it in sand, and maybe dirt, while the plaster was still workable. Unfortunately it didn’t happen, but it might have been interesting.