Injured Knobtail

[DanTheMan]

Now before you scream vet, it was the 1st thing I did as soon as I noticed this and have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon, was the best I could get.

I have just discovered one of my young Knobtails out from their hide with either a broken or dislocated front leg, as it is rather small I am a little worried if the vet will be able to do something, can they survive with 3 legs? I dont see how it would be possible to fix a tiny leg on such a small reptile. He has 1 buddy which now looks like they are'nt buddies.
Feel sick thinking about the poor little guy.

They are now seperated and hope he will ok until I get him to the vet tomorrow.

Anyone know what the chances of him surviving are?

Sorry no pics, dont really want to disturb him atm, will try get some when I check on him shortly.

 

[knicko]

it should be right i have a bearded dragon and its missing one foot and it is fine he is getting bigger than the others..........i didn't do it it was like it when i got him....his name is Bung

 

[DanTheMan]

Makes me feel a bit better lol
Thanks!

 

[smacdonald]

He'll probably be fine in captivity with only one leg. Your immediate concern is making sure any open wounds don't get infected. It would also be good to do something about the pain, but that will have to wait for the vet . Make sure you do talk to your vet about pain medication, like Metacam. Many people (including professional research scientists who really should know better) have little regard for pain perception in reptiles.

Your other, possibly more immediate, concern is trying to figure out how this happened. His cage mate is obviously the prime suspect. You might want to separate them until you sort this out. I'm always one for erring on the side of caution.

Stewart

 

[DanTheMan]

Thanks alot for that
That is what im also worried about, the pain the poor little guys going through.
And yes I have seperated them and he is in an invironment that I is clean, so hopefully it wont get infected, there is only a tiny bit of open flesh which is why think it was his mate. No other animal is capable of getting to it.
Thanks again, Dan.

 

[DanTheMan]

Forgot to mention, dont know if this makes a difference, he has the red sand I have as a substrate dried in a clump on his foot, the one thats injured, maybe from a bit off blood picking up sand and drying out.

Dont want to try clean it up as it will hurt him.
The sand is from a petshop that has been pasterised.

 

[smacdonald]

I'd be inclined to try to clean the wound. Doing this will no doubt cause him some discomfort, but he's better off with a clean wound.

Stewart

 

[DanTheMan]

Ok, when I 1st found him like that, I tried gently to clean it off with water but was too hard, and if I dampen it to try to make it softer to break off it will just pick up more sand unless I put him inb a different substrate, dont really have anything though, out of paper towels....

 

[smacdonald]

He definitely shouldn't be back on sand if he's still got an open wound. You must have something else around the house? Newspaper, toilet paper, an old tea towel?

Stewart

 

[DanTheMan]

Crap ok will get some toilet paper then.
Thanks again!

 

[Twiggz]

Take him off the sand substrate if you expect an open wound. Clean it as has been suggested.
Not sure how you'll go regarding a Vet with such a small species. In the past i had a very similar situation with a milii and was told to isolate the injured specimen and to increase the amount of calcium dusted feeds. I imagine a little UV wouldn't go a stray in the recovery process if it can be provided. Monitor it and depending on the severity you may be lucky enough to have it repair itself over a few weeks.

 

[geckoman1985]

mine are doing well to gether and only three mounths pld i know i got 2 females and 1 male and have had no gage fights but maake shroe you have a hide for each of them and thay shoud be right as to the cause be careful that crickets have not done the damige as crickets will feed on youn reptiles also make shore that thay cant dig under tjer hides or water dish as thay may fall and hert them. if its a break in the leg the vets can try to fix it with a splint i seen a doco of steves animal hostiptal fix a green tree frog with a pin and allso a small skink wiyh a splint so your vet should be able to do something smooth knob may look fragile but are very hardy and im shore yours will be ok all the best anyway mate let me know how things tern out

 

[DanTheMan]

Thanks for that guys, I dont want to take my chances with it healing itself for a few days so will be taking it to the vet tomorrow.
But will try feeding him now with plenty of calium powder. And I feed them woodies not crickets so cant have been that. The injured one is now in a seperate container inside their larger tank so has heat and everything and is off the sand substrate.
I have seen them chase each other when I'm feeding them as from a distance they just see movemnt and go for it but realise its not food as they get closer, so i wonder if the other thought his leg was food as its quite greedy.

 

[Gecko :)]

Hows this little fella going?
Sorry to hear & I hope all is ok.

 

[Helikaon]

for future reference with somethign like a broken leg i would call the vet jsut to say you are coming straight down, i dont know if this happened after hrs or not but if it was during work hrs then unless they are packed with emergencies that day which is unlikely just tell them you are coming right down, its amazing really, cuase if it was a dog no staff would ever say to you well the only appointment i have is this arvo.

 

[tmrlevis]

Hi,
I have had several instances where young Levis have had what appear to be broken legs. IMO, young levis would be too small for the VET to be able to do anything constructive, except for charge you a fortune.
If you keep to the basics, keep him isolated, keep it hot at one end (32), spray him with water every day (without a sand substrate the cage will become too dry) and feed him with dusted crickets 3 out of every 4 feeds (instead of every 2nd feed) he will hopefully recover.
In relation to getting the clump of sand of his feet, you need to be very careful. I would get a shallow dish and fill it with luke warm water (not hot) and place him in it so he can still touch the ground. That way the sand should come off on its own, if not a gentle rub and it should be fine.
I have had a 100% success and recovery rate with this method, however it is a little different because in my instances I have not had an open wound.
Good luck

 

[DanTheMan]

Hi,
I have had several instances where young Levis have had what appear to be broken legs. IMO, young levis would be too small for the VET to be able to do anything constructive, except for charge you a fortune.
If you keep to the basics, keep him isolated, keep it hot at one end (32), spray him with water every day (without a sand substrate the cage will become too dry) and feed him with dusted crickets 3 out of every 4 feeds (instead of every 2nd feed) he will hopefully recover.
In relation to getting the clump of sand of his feet, you need to be very careful. I would get a shallow dish and fill it with luke warm water (not hot) and place him in it so he can still touch the ground. That way the sand should come off on its own, if not a gentle rub and it should be fine.
I have had a 100% success and recovery rate with this method, however it is a little different because in my instances I have not had an open wound.
Good luck

Thanks for that, put him in shallow warmish water like you said and it worked a treat!
And now that the dirt is off it appears that its leg isnt as bad as I thought, the vet rang today and had to cancle the apppointment as they had a dog come in that had been hit by a car so was in surgery for the rest of the day. Which suits me fine as it doesnt look like it needs to go into the vet now, will wait a day or 2 and see if it keeps improing the way he has so far.

It now looks as though its the foot that is broken, is ver limp and seems that he cant move it, although this isn;t good, its a bit better losing a foot than an entire leg, thats if it doesn't heal.

1 more question, where could I get a good anti-septic (spelling?) and what's it called. I gave the open wound a clean with water to get all the sand out, but want some anti-septic.
Looked at a few petshops for some and only ended up coming home with a breeding pair of rats lol, sick of waiting too long for pet shops to get some in, my snake should be happy.

Thanks, Dan.

 

[Tatelina]

Hey did you take any photos? I'm curious to see what it looks like...

 

[DanTheMan]

will go get one now

 

[smacdonald]

Hi Dan,

You can get Betadine from a chemist. It's the brown, iodine-based antiseptic your mum might have attacked you with after you fell off your bike.

You can also use something containing chlorhexidine. Some brand name products include Microshield and Hibiclens. It's a pink solution. It's toxic at high concentrations, and possibly with long exposures.

Remember to use these products as per the directions.


Stewart