It can be done. There are some very successful breeders who just work off of ambient temps. I agree with Jon though about the breeding part..........when you go to cool down adults, you'll be inadvertently cooling down the babies and juvi's so at the very least you should either heat the hatchling/juvi racks or keep them in another heated area.

I've raised a few generations on just ambient heat and they have done perfectly. They eat,shed,defecate,breed,ovulate,lay eggs,etc.......all perfectly without heat tape under one side of the enclosure. So it can definitely be done. I'm also not a huge producer by any means so I don't really have the numbers or statistics to compare otherwise (like how many females held onto their eggs longer in enclosures that had heat tape.......things of that nature). I'd probably get eggs sooner if I had them on heat tape. I usually get eggs about 35+ days after the pre-lay sheds while others can get into the low 30's or even under 30 days.

Maybe in the future I'll go to belly heat for the adults. I'd really like some freedom breeder or ARS racks but they aren't giving them away yet...........