if possible you might read the literature regarding thermal ecology of ruthveni coupled with your knowledge of NP over wintering behaviors and draw some sort of conclusions . I would avoid doing anything that will ultimately create a situation that is difficult or impossible to maintain with your given situation. The more work you make for yourself the less likely you will be to carry through in the long run. With that said there is little doubt that if your project contained adult WC individuals you would need to mimic native conditions more closely but CB&B individuals can tolerate a relatively wide range of conditions.

I would probably avoid temps in the 40's (for any Pituophis).... Ok so they can survive but probably not ideal and probably not best case senario... Remember that temperature has a profound effect on the functioning of their immune systems.

I put everything "down" in Nov. and bring them up in late Feb... maybe 12 weeks and they generally remain in the range of low 50's to low 60's. Undoubtedly "too short and too warm " for some "too long and too cold" for others but it seems to work and it is manageable, (based as much or more on what I can provide over what would be ideal for each regionally evolved taxonomic group).

If you do fiddle around with the ruthveni cycles keep records and let us know what your findings are....

I would be curious to what growth records are like for animals that have a shorter dormate season.....

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