Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. My friend just asked me to take his monitor which is about 4.5ft. I sold it to him a little more than 2 yrs ago. this guy built the monitor a cage that was about 5ft tall with three stories. He says the monitor fell from the 3rd to the 1st story and landed on its neck. From what i understand it has lived this way for a while. he took it to the vet and they said there was nothing they could do (they don't know if its a broken neck). He can move his neck but he has no aim. When he eats he kind of just throws his head around and hopes to grab the food. He used to be aggressive but since the injury he isn't any longer. Its kind of hard to describe but when he moves his head and tries to eat he kind of looks like a bobble head. Do any of you know what this could be and what could i do?
Thanks

That's scary!!! First, when you mean it has lived this way for a while, do you mean with the 3 story house? Or with the neck problem?? At the very least it has damaged it's neck muscles/ tendons/ etc. at worst it has fractured it's neck. Doubtful it's fully broken, but could be close. Either way it needs some sort of brace designed to support it'd head while it heals. Not an easy task as it would require a design especially made for him. Too bad I can't draw here. Imagine a ridgid but padded strip of a strong solid material that would run from it's shoulders to the top of it's head. Now you need to attach it in a way that won't restrict his jaws or shoulders. A strip that has both a head and shoulder harness. Sounds complicated, but it shouldn't be too hard to do. Every so often it could be taken off, both to give him a break and to see if he's made any progress. You should be able to tell if it helps almost immediately, and by his personality when he starts to get better.
The lack of control is what concerns me the most and makes it sound fairly serious, but at this point he could still recover fairly well.
PLEASE keep us updated.
***Kenn**

From what i understand he has lived with this condition for a while. Not sure how long he was in the cage, but i find it hard to believe that he fell and damaged his neck this way, but possible i guess. I was thinking of trying to design a brace. I'm gonna take him to the reptile specialist today here in cleveland and see what they think. Its really sad to watch him eat. its like he has no aim when going to get his food, as if he's blind. Thanks for the reply.

That's really sad to hear, poor guy. Since it's been this way for a while could be motor nerve damage? Whatever it is I feel for you both and wish you the best.