Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everyone, my adult BW tegu suffered a fall today. When he hit the ground his back end twitched for about 5 seconds and then he lumbered forward using ONLY his front legs...

Later in the day he used his back legs to walk, but seemed unsure/slow. He crawled into his hide box and i haven't seen him since. He did eat after the fall, which I think to be a good sign.

Has anyone ever dealt with this?? I am extremely extremely worried.

J

Sounds like some definate nerve damage to me. Most of the time, when injured, nerves do not regenerate like other things in the body can, on their own anyway. But it depends on the severity of the injury. Not using the back legs means his spinal cord was possibly injured in the fall, but now he is using them a little? That is a very good sign. With back injuries like that that paralyze the legs, steroids are the drug of choice to reduce inflammation. So your options are to take him to the vet for a checkup and maybe some nerve tests, or just keep an eye on him and see what happens. Make sure he is still eating and more importantly, deficating properly. Also, he may not have all feeling back in his legs, so make sure he doesnt "self mutilate" himself, in other words he might catch a toe between rocks or something and not even know it. You prolly didnt need all of that but I thought Id cover all bases. Good luck!
-Beth

mine fell off a bed one and, for lack of a better word, "spranged" her arm. it took her a few days for movement to return to normal. she would put pressure on it and then it would buckel...very unsettling at the time but thankfully everything is OK now.

good luck

Yeah, if it’s nerve damage, you’ll want to get to a vet. It can be serious, but you’d be surprised what some critters can regenerate.

My family used to have three prairie dogs. One of them had a fall, during play, that left her unable to use or feel her back end at all. We thought we’d have to put her to sleep, the vet instead had us giving her steroids and keeping her in a separate tank. She regenerated most of the damage and regained use of her whole body. Her walk was a little stiffer, but had you never seen her before the accident, you’d never have known anything was wrong. She was able to get everywhere the other 2 prairie dogs could go and even outlived them (still alive today).