OK, I've recently moved to Florida and I want to get back into lizards. I've kept tegus, monitors etc indoors for years but now that I'm down south I want to build an outdoor pen and try keeping some Arg's outdoors. My plan is to have a breeding group, maybe 1.3 or 1.4. I'm on the east coast (Daytona area), and we don't seem to have the temperature extremes that they do inland. This winter while temps dropped into the 30s inland I rarely dipped below 40, and in the summer when it's upper 90s inland we tend to have low 90s here.

Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is what side of my house is the best spot? I've got a bit of a corner that measures about 12x10 and faces about due west, where the rear walls of my toolshed & house meet - I was thinking of using that corner and extending it out another 10 feet, making a 20x12 enclosure. The corner that's against the house is shaded, so I think it'll make a good cool summer/warm winter area for them to dig their burrow (warm because it's against the house).

Do people use solid bottoms to the outdoor pens? Is there a reasonable depth to sink the walls so they won't dig under them? I was going to set the walls, add a layer of gravel (the bagged gravel people use instead of mulch), then a foot of mixed topsoil and cypress for digging. Will this work, or will they likely dig right down through the rock and under the walls?

Also what has worked as material for the walls? I know Bert Langerwerf uses steel, but I'm not sure I'd be able to get the steel sheets he uses - is there something else that's easier to get & work with, that will still be strong enough to handle the weather & tegus? Seems like wood would be a bad choice, especially because I'd want to bury it.

Anyway sorry for the rambling post - I'm not new to herps by any means but I am new to keeping them outside. Any help/suggestions/ideas will be appreciated.

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