A petracuniculum, (literally stone burrows), a stone fragment pile for habitat for reptiles, amphibians, and other small creatures, was added to the south east corner of the gardens in January 2016. We styled ours to suggest a sort of ancient ruin. Our petracuniculum has a dug out pit nearly two feet deep under it with a deep sandy bottom, preferred by reptiles for hibernating, We also have a deep sandy area on the south side for reptiles to lay eggs. We also used a water shedding roof of 6 mil poly, internally over part of the to,p to keep most rain water out of the structure.

Rock piles are especially appealing to some of the smaller wildlife species we share our world
with, such as:

  • toads
  • salamanders
  • lizards
  • snakes
  • turtles
  • many invertebrate species including spiders and crickets

Although some people don’t like these critters, many of them do a great job of controlling more
pesky critters like garden-damaging insects and rodents.
Cold-blooded animals like rock piles because the stones “hold” heat and cold longer than the air
around it. A rock warmed up by the sun will stay warm most of the night. They also stay cooler
during the heat of the day. The area near a rock pile also tends to stay moist, which some
creatures prefer.
See photos of our petracuniculum construction.