Well, here I am. I have cooled my fat tails for the past few seasons, but decided not to cool them this season for the following reasons:
--a reptile vet recommended that I not cool them
--I don't feel that the temps in my house get low enough (50's) to be really cooling them at a temperature where they will brumate
--one of my fat tail groups consists of a pair of juveniles that will be old enough to breed, but still not full grown. I would't cool juvies.
My current plan is to separate the males from the females for about a week (once I free up some cages by putting the male leos back in with their females) and then to see if they get interested. I'll let you know how it goes.
cooling is not needed at all, and quite frankly I feel that it can have adverse side-effects so I would recommend not doing it. For the amount of years we have been working with them it has not been attempted, and are results are very good.
I have put mine into brumation for the past 2 years. This year I decided not to Most of my females are still to small to breed and i didnt feel the need to do so. But the females that are of size have honestly ovulated faster and I have seen better egg production this year. So i do not think i will ever cool mine again