Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am considering caging all of my research subjects outside in outdoor enclosures. This would give them for one more room and also give them the benefit of living in there natural habitat. All of them are native to my area so I am not worried at all about temps or anything. They would be housed in these enclosures year round and hibernate just like they would in the wild. Can anyone give me any suggestions, comments or concerns about this before I take on such an undertaking? I am well versed in the construction of such enclosures so I am not the least bee worried about the possibility of the escaping or being prayed on. Thanks in advance for any help. All species will be small “Sceloporus Occidentalis, Eumeces Skiltonianus, Elgaria Multicarinata so on and so forth” Thanks again for any help

My reptile research and collection

...and hibernate just like they would in the wild.

That's a big assumption. Do you know how these species normally get to below the frost line in your area? Do some or all of them burrow or do they occupy natural hibernacula or something else?

If they are burrowers this is the easiest thing to deal with but even then it's not as easy as you think. The soil around your place is probably packed down and the animals might not be able to make it below the frost line. This is actually quite common in residential housing areas.

What I did for box turtles was find out how deep my frost line was and then dug a large hole about 12" deeper than that. I then made a mix of native sand and soil and filled the hole with that. I went ahead and lined the entire hole with welded wire so the turtles could not dig out and had the wire extend a couple of feet above the surface.

It was a lot of work.

Once the turtles disappeared for the winter I then filled the wire area with 12" of hay as a further insulator.

Even then I lost turtles over the winter and they are by nature excellent burrowers.

You need to think hard about each species and what they'll need to hibernate over the winter. Many a box turtle keeper have setup pens in their backyards assuming the turtles would hibernate. All to often they can't get deep enough due the heavily packed soil around houses.

If anything I would think lizards would be more difficult to provide for.
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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)