I have always induced brumation, and had luck that way. I think if something is working for you, stick with it. There is usually no reason to deviate from a successful method. Do your cage temps and photoperiod change at all in winter? I was always told that the lower temps durring brumation favored good sperm production.
As far as egg binding, I think it may have more to do with fertilization. Austin and I have had females produce good clutches without being cooled, though the male was. We have also seen females go egg bound. Once when the male seemed to ignore a particular female all breeding season, and copulation was never witnessed, the female died egg bound. A friend had a young virgin female begin to develop eggs suddenly, without ever being cooled, but unfortunately by the time he noticed that she was developing eggs, it was too late for fertilization. We loaned him a male to try to get the job done, but it was too late, and she died about a week or two later from egg binding.

Nick

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