A couple points, First, Lack of control. Rain, floods, etc and the snakes not doing what you want them to do. having kept reptiles outdoors for almost 30 years. I understand, their is a different set of rules.
Reinventing the wheel, in your case, replacing a Michelin super tire, with a square wooden tire.
No land is empty.

land always has some manner of life. So you will destroy something, cause you "want to"
Please do not take offense personally, as a newbie, you can take offense. Its always a wonder why newbies, somehow want to reinvent something, before the actually learn the something.
You said, you want to do it more naturally, yet, you have no idea what naturally means. Snakes do not pick areas willy nilly, The winter sites they use, are a tiny area in a huge area, that allows them to survive and has proven that over hundreds of years. The wild individuals that choose the wrong winter sites, die, they are selected against. The ones that choose the right areas, live and repeat that choice, if they don't, they to are selected out of the gene pool. In your cages, you are suppose to provide safe conditions and its EASY to do that.
As someone who has kept kings as mentioned, over 50 years, I have to wonder why anyone would want to make the same mistakes we made 50 years ago. Then you wonder, do they really think they are so unique and so smart, that they think no one else has tried it? All that tried that has come up with this, keep them in the cage, allow some cool temps, say in the 50's and wait until spring. If you have that much extra time, how about building a really naturalistic cage that allows full behavior. From breeding, to nesting, to eggs hatching in the cage, to the neonates growing up. Even that has been done, but could be done better. You could make it so you could view them above and below ground level, etc. Sorry for the crap pic.

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