In the late 1930s and early 1940s, with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, he participated in several surveys of various states in Mexico, including one with Karl Patterson Schmidt for the Field Museum of Natural History.

In 1944 Bogert undertook a study on the body temperature of lizards and alligators in Florida, and became chairman and curator for the department of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History.

From 1948 until 1950 he travelled to Central America to conduct research in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Bimini Island off the Bahamas.

In 1950, he became an instructor at the University of Virginia, and undertook numerous trips to the southwestern United States to do research.

Afterwards he continued to travel extensively and conducted further research throughout most of the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Sri Lanka.