Danger of MBD during brumation in the dark?

[DovahDad]

Our approximately 13 month old adult dragon, Nova, has been brumating for a couple weeks now. I think he had been trying to brumate for a lot longer than that since he stopped eating for weeks and hid under things, but we kept force feeding him, took him to the vet, got bloodwork done (normal), and generally freaked out over him.

Now we've calmed down and are letting him do his own thing and hide under some t-shirts. He stays there all day long, except when we soak and weigh him once a week. He isn't really losing any weight.

So he seems to be brumating successfully. My concern is this: Can a BD develop metabolic bone disease while brumating in the dark without any UV exposure? We've made him a nice dark t-shirt cave to help him sleep, but every time we open it up he's awake (though he looks very out of it). So I'm not even sure if he needs the cave, but he does seem to like it, and buries his face in the shirts.

Anyone who's been through a brumation or two have any thoughts?

 

[AHBD]

No, it won't cause MBD....in the wild they would brumate naturally and sleep for weeks/ months. Most of my adults have brumated with no uvb for 2-3 months at times and never developed MBD.

 

[DovahDad]

Thanks for the reply, AHBD - that's good to know! I think I'll turn his lights off then, since he's not taking advantage of them anyway.