Even where you are in Tucson you shouldn't have any problems at all with those two species. You don't need to worry about the fluctuations in your area. Just pick the most stable cool area you have, be it a garage or a room on the north side of the house with the window cracked or opened. Shoot for a night time temp of 50-60F, don't worry if it drops lower or warms up a bit in the daytime. They will do fine for three months without food as long as their bodyweight was good going in. Growing up in Tucson, I used to hibernate both pyros and greeri in this manner in my bedroom,(two of the montane kingsnake species usually considered more difficult to hibernate and breed)and still had babies every year (along with just about every other local snake species at some point in time). Do keep them in the dark.

In teh wild atrox vary a lot according to locality as they have quite a wide elevational distrubution. At higher elevations they go down for the winter and don't come back up till Spring. In the Tucson area they return to hibernacula where they stay all winter and don't feed. One may however find them basking outside on any given day that is warm and sunny in Dec. thru Feb. Sidewinders are pretty much the same.

Rich

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