Help!! Broken leg!!

[Drax]

hey,
well some moron at the store closed the door on our black and gold tegu's leg. i found the little guy in the state he's in on Wednesday. I've been kinda busy with work and taking care of a sick leopard to get around to getting yall's opinion. My local vet won't give me advice unless she sees the animal and i don't have the money to pay for a vet exam and my boss definately won't pay for it. I've taped his leg to his side just to keep it out of the way.

What can i do? Should we let it "heal" on its own. I know it won't heal correctly if we do. I hate to see the little guy in pain and wouldn't dream of attempting to amputate the leg or putting him down. Someone who knows about birds was staying that with birds they don't splint or cast any broken bones. She brought up the point that lizards are much more like birds than mammals and it may be best to just let nature take it's course. What can we do?

Kyle
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[kirkje]

hey sorry to hear about that, i don't have any advice but would be interested in knowing. jusst though i would write to say i hope he is every thing turns out ok for the little guy [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]
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[Drax]

just moving this up so someone can see it and give me some advice.
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[Dr.Oviparous]

just bumping it up again [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] hope someone knows!

BTW, there really isn't a black and gold tegu. it's really a young black tegu (tupanimbus teguixin) as he gets older the gold will turn into white. (this doesn't make him a black and white tegu though, tupanimbus merianea, the black and whites are a whole different ball game). just some .02. -Juggalo
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Where exactly is the break? Is it lower bone, one nearest toes, or upper bone (femur)? If it isn't a femur, splinted to the body is acceptable, but the long and the short of it is the animal needs to go to the vet to make sure the bone ends are realigned correctly to knit together properly. Without professional treatment, best case is going to be a crippled Tegu that will have a shortened life span.

If it's a femur break, the leg should actually be splinted in a "flexed" position to allow for straight bone alignment.

This is not something the best rehabber is likely to do well at. A professional is really called for here.
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[eddie]

Dittos to what J said.
It really does need a vet to get the proper care.
Unless you know a rehabber with X-ray equipment.
Otherwise it can lead to many problems including infection in the bone that can lead to amputation and or death.
From the sounds of the boss, he doesn't care either way and would probably sell it as is without any advice or help going to the lizard....
The almighty $$$ strikes again...
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[BWSmith]

AMEN!!! Brother Eddie!!! It appears too often that money is more important than life.
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[motorherp]

This web site has an online vet Herplife
For some quick advice they are worth a try [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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[Drax]

hey just an update. the break was on his right front limb up near the shoulder. well about a week and a half ago the leg fell off. so now he has a little bit of the bone left attached to his shoulder. he runs good, eats great, and well he's probably going to have a good home at my house by the week end. as far as the healing goes it looks pretty good i told the others at the store to put hydrogen peroxide on the wound till it completely healed and to keep him on newspaper (someone put him back on sand [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] ) and it looks to be healing well.

Jug, what makes a black and white different from a black? this little guy has black with a few golden or white bars on his back and tail.
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[Dr.Oviparous]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> Jug, what makes a black and white different from a black</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>
it's not a huge difference, just some small ones. T. teguixin (blacks) are what most pet shops will have (and sometimes sell as gold, or gold and black). they usually go for $50-$70. A bit smaller when full grown, and have a more aggresive reputation. on blacks, the white markings will be almost all horozontal. there is 1 large loreal scale (the scale between the eye and nostril) on blacks, and 2 smaller loreal scales on T. merianae (black and whites). Black and whites will have horozontal, and vertical white markings. they usually go for $90-$120 if you can find one in a pet shop. the colors change drastically in juvi tegus. black and whites are actully born bright green!

a lot of shops either don't know which one they have, don't know the diff, or are trying to sell blacks for black and whites. I've got pics of one of my blacks from being a juvi, looking very gold. with each shed they get whiter, and whiter. (I actully got into a debate with the pet shop as to what he was, they were selling him as a gold)

most of the confusion is because of a taxonomic change a few years back. Tupanimbus merianae used to be tupanimbus teguixin. that and because there just is not a whole lot of info out there about them. hope this was usefull [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] -Juggalo

_________________
&quot;Well, it didn't look like a one horse town, but try finding a decent hair jelly!&quot; -Eulisses E McGill

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[Johnny801]

I am by no means a lizard person. I just wanted to chime in and say that it is good to see that you care so much for the little critter. I keep hoping that there will come a day when once again, the value of life will surpass the value of a dollar!! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img]
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[Drax]

thanks Johnny.

my personal moto is animals first (herptiles first and foremost) and people second.
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