I have alligators that I put outside last year. They do great outside. They grow bigger. They are back inside for the winter and are slowly growing bigger. We will have to build a new winter quarters for them.
Natural sunlight is important to a lot of animals, particularly the reptiles.
They definitely need natural sunlight. When natural sunlight hits them, they become very wild. Indoors they calm down. I do most of the exhibits with a team from the zoo. All the keepers sit down and the director helps out.