Hibernaculum Installation

What in tarnation is a hibernaculum you ask? Well we are glad you did ask! A hibernaculum translates from Latin as a winter den, and indeed this is what it is. A hibernaculum simulates a cave-like environment, a safe space to ride out the winter, which reptiles, especially snakes and lizards, native to our colder climates seek out each fall. Unfortunately, agricultural and building practices have eliminated many hibernacula sites from the southern Wisconsin landscape. Field stones and natural stony cavities have been plowed up and pulled out, putting pressure on reptiles to find a safe winter den. Populations of our native snakes are often isolated and fragmented by surrounding farmland and urban development. But there is good news! As we have removed hibernaculum sites from the landscape, we can just as easily add them back.
Prairie Wind has experience installing successful reptile hibernacula sites. Through proper siting and construction, snakes will find and make use of a newly installed hibernaculum in a very short time. The benefits to ecology are numerous. Snakes are an important part of the food chain as both predator and prey. In this dual capacity, snakes often they control agricultural pests like slugs, snails, insects, and rodents while they are consumed in their turn by raptors, herons, mammals, and many other predators.
Having snakes on your property is a sign of a healthy ecosystem and installing a hibernaculum site can give your local snakes a reliable stronghold to combat Wisconsin’s harsh winters.