Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my Iguana for about 6 months now and he has bonded well with my wife and I. He is very healthy in every way and very friendly and happy. He loves to swim and hang out on the window screen.

The problem is my Iguana suddenly jumped off my lap about 25 min ago and landed aquardly on the floor and now can no longer move his tail and I get very little responce from his back lags. I would take him to the vet but there is no such thing in South Korea where I am currently stationed. They have vets but they are only interested in cats, dogs, and the ocational farm animal. I have looked all over the net for a doc in south korea that will treat an Iguana.

I come from a medical family and know more than most about things like this and if he was human he would be imobalized totaly for months. I know that if there is even a slight movement that a full recovery is possible but the problem is they dont make traction beds for Iguanas My wife and I are very attached to him and we are worried sick.

There was an insident a few months ago with him jumping down on the floor when my wife was holding him, I turned in my chair to see what Pepe did and the chair weel cut the last 3 inches of his tail off. I felt terrible. The cut off section of tail continued to writhe on the floor and we could hear it moving in the trash till I fished it back out and burried it outside. The tail grew back thank god. I mention this because I am wondering if the responce to stimuli I am getting is him or the flesh in his legs or tail. I know from the cut off tail that it can move independently but I need to know if his legs can also. It is important so I can know if he is peralized or not.

I put him in a warm bath since thats all I can think of to get any pressure off of whatever he did to his spine. Unlike any other injured animal I have ever dealt with he doesnt act threatened when I move him to warm the water again. I felt along his back while watching his pupils and there was no sign of pain dialation and his flesh flap under his chin didnt come down. He doesnt seem to be distressed in any way except when he tries to move. He almost seems pissed he has to drag his hind legs.

I would prefer to hear from actual doctors plz, but if anyone has had a similar experiance I would like to hear anything that might help me care for this injury. I have no access to a vet so I will have to be IT.

Thanks

It does not sound good! It sounds as if your Ig has broken
his back some how. It sounds as if he is paralized so he
will not feel pain in that area. Would one of the vets in
your area be willing to do an x-ray of his back? Their spines
are pretty much the same as other pets and you should be able
to see this on x-ray. My other concern is that if this small
jump onto the floor caused such an injury that he most likely
is suffering from MBD. You did not mention the age of your
Ig and what his set-up is. Do you have a UVB light, a heat
source and what are you feeding him? If it is an adult what
was his past care like?

I would keep him as still as possible and keep trying to find
a vet. You will need to treat the MBD if he has it as well
as the injury. Also, I would assume that your Ig is going to
need help pooping. Keep doing warm soaks and watch for bloating.

Please respond with answers to the questions above.

Linda

Most bases have a vet who inspects meat, but can treat other animals. There are some vets overseas.

I have a spiny tail iguana that I am nursing her broken back. I took her to my vet. He x-rayed to confirm. There is not really too much a vet can do. He suggested extra warmth and uvb. I but everything on one level in her house so she didn't have to climb. She had a cloth tube she hid in and it was on a heating pad, I took her out and but her in a aquarium for the uvb each day. He had me force feed her a mixture of hills science diet AD and ??? (his extra ingredient). I, with his blessing, try-ed bracing her back. I was trying out a neoprene wrist brace when she pooped the first time, so I used that to poop her every other day and braced her back at night with vet wrap. You need to check on your iguana every hour to make sure it hasn't managed to get on it's back and suffocate. Basking temperature baths are good. After about 2 mouths my spiny is doing every thing but climbing. Feel free to e-mail me privately. Good Luck
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Spinys are just children with scales and long tails.