Lazy-*** Garters

[kimbosaur]

I have had my two garters for about 8 months now and they seem to rarely ever come out of hiding. They have one hide that they like and they will just stay in it for the entire day. They aren't exactly "shy" either. I hand feed at pretty much every feeding and if I wiggle my finger by the glass, they will sometimes come out. They don't even switch between cool and warm sides.

I have tried everything: Raising temps, lowering temps, increasing light, decreasing light, different substrates, removing hides, adding hides, switching hides, changing the layout, feeding more, feeding less, fasting for a week. The only thing that kind of gets them exploring is when I change the layout of their tank. They will explore for a while, find a hide they like and not come out. At one point they were staying only on the warm side so I put their dome light directly over, not realizing temps reached 120 degrees and they still didn't budge.

Any suggestions?

Edit: Here's a pic of the current layout. It's a 20 gallon.


Their spot used to be at the top of the platform in a cardboard box. Since I've switched that hide for a coconut, they don't hang out there anymore. Instead, they're in that other box in the middle (it's mostly buried but you can see the flap). It reaches all the way to the back of the tank. I probably should also mention that if the boxes aren't in spots they like, they will switch to the cocount.