Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My iguana a few days ago has had trouble moving his right arm and hand. I believe it was from jumping off the top of the 6 foot cage and hitting off the end table. I cant tell if its a dislocated shoulder or busted hand but wondered if their is anything I can do or will it just heal? I dont want to take it to the vet if they just say its a broken hand and just needs to heal and have to pay $250. please let me know if you have any advice. thanks.

You are going to let your injured iguana suffer? VET CARE is needed here. If you are just going to "let it heal on its own" Then I suggest you surrender the ig to your vet so he can have proper care. If limbs arent treated correctly they become un useable and sometimes get ripped off if they heal wrong. I know it sounds mean and cruel but I have an iguana that i adopted from a family that "let her heal" and her forearm was broken in 3 places and her toes are broken. THANK GOD I got her shortly after the breaks and my vet was able to set them properly through surgery. 250? You have a CHEAP vet then. As I said, if you are going to let him suffer then surrender him to someone that can and will get him help.

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Heather, Vern, Andy, Router, April And OODLES of fish

I dont think he is suffering as he still is active and shows know signs of pain. he just has trouble climbing but still does it. If you are saying $250 is cheap and that its going to cost $500 or something you are crazy if i am going to pay that much. If i see any sign of him suffering I will gladly give it to someone that is willing to pay to get him treated. He is a great iguana though and tame and i dont want to give him up. hopefully i can get some more opinions on the subject.

Hey there,
You may get many emotionally charged replies to your post, because for many of us (myself included) reading what you wrote is like coming face to face with the previous owners of our adopted iguanas. My ig Bud came to me with three of four limbs broken in multiple places, one break being sustained in "a fall from a table." Not to mention mites, obstructed gut, gangrene, and severe calcium deficiency disease...

That being said, it's good you're looking for help, and if your vet were going to send you home with an ice pack and a bandaid, it would not cost anywhere NEAR $350. Now, you will be charged simply for your time with a vet, before any treatments. My vet charges about $45 for walking in the door, and prices in general that I've heard are from $35- $55 just to see an exotic.

Your ig will probably need x-rays. The cost for that was $80 for two views. It may need the leg splinted, or may need calcium shots or prescription liquid supplement, which were relatively inexpensive: something like $18 for the shot, $7 or $8 for the liquid calcium. You'll need x-rays and a vet visit anywhere from six weeks to six months later, depending on the severity of the break, so that's another $40 to $80.

I guarantee you, if your iguana is walking funny, it has an injury that needs treatment. They make every effort NOT to show injury, to avoid predators who pick off the weak. While he heals, you're going to have to restrict his roaming time and climbing. At worst, this is going to run you around $230. You should HOPE the vet sends you away with no broken bone diagnosis, because then it's only going to be around $85 total.

What I would be saying to myself is, "Get out the wallet, cause it's you're own fault for not watching him carefully", but these accidents happen to everybody, no matter how careful. The thing is, EVERBODY here would take his iguana to the vet for something like this, so most likely you're not going to get any homespun folk remedies or "Easy Ways to Cure Your Ig".

Do you have a vet? If not, and you have questions, this is a good place to ask them.

If you can't handle the responsibility of vet bills and having an iguana, then check out the Green Iguana Society's web page to start the adoption process. You would house the iguana while people responded to a listing for him on the website. But since almost nobody wants to adopt iguanas, it could take a very long time. So you're going to have to shoulder the cost of this vet bill.

Sorry this may sound a little low on sympathy, but I just want to let you know the truth. You gotta realize, even those of us who bought an ig on a whim or adopted one with no idea what we were getting into, made adjustments to our budgets and sacrifices and take great pride in the excellent condition of iguanas we've cared for and rehabbed. Many of us are teenagers, or like myself, just out of college and extremely low on extra money. But we do it anyway. So this is what you're going to hear a lot: FIND A WAY.

Any way that we can help or answer questions, we would love to. Write back and let us know, okay?

-Erin

I have to agree with the others. If this were a member of
your family would you pay for this injury? People get Iguanas
and many other animals and then when they need vet intervention
they treat them as disposible. If you have an Ig, it is YOUR
responsibility to care for it PROPERLY! I know that money
can be hard to come by but this doesn't happen to often if
they are taken care of properly. I half suspect some kind
of MBD as normally they can fall long distances without
problems. If this is the case you have much bigger problems
that need to be addressed. The only way to find out is to
take them to a qualified vet.

I just spent over $300 because my Ig was egg-bound and needed
a hysterectomy. I would have paid triple that if need be
because she is my responsibility and I must provide the best
care possible.

Please have your Ig checked by a vet!
Linda

I am 19 In college and I pay for eveyrthing my igs need. My "Adoptee" is half the size she should be due to MBD and her many breaks and bumps and bruises because of owners that refused to get her vet care because of the cost of it. To have her treated and for follow ups my bills totaled over 860 dollars. Counting 5 x-rays, splinting, fecal tests, exams every 6 weeks, meds for MBD.. So while it is a SIMPLE break or injury its cheaper now to have him treated than to wait until he cant walk and have him treated because then he might not recover. If its a money problem thing then the vet can work out a payment plan. Lucky I have a credit card that I put it on. Before the vet will treat your ig you have the right to say, "No i dont want him treated I just wanted to know what was wrong" And just pay the exam fee.
The ig on the left of my picture is vern my adoptee and the right is andy. Both igs are less than 2 months apart. They were just taken care of VERY differently

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Heather, Vern, Andy, Router, April And OODLES of fish

Ok, i will take him in tomorrow. one of his fingers is getting swollen with puss and he still is limping pretty bad when he walks. but if its broken and needs surgery i dont know if i will have it performed. i will keep you all updated.

Linda

Ok, i will take him in tomorrow. one of his fingers is getting swollen with puss and he still is limping pretty bad when he walks. but if its broken and needs surgery i dont know if i will have it performed. i will keep you all updated.

Is the one on top male and the one on the right female?

u said that people come emotionally charged cuzz its like coming face to face with the previouse owners of ur adopted igs in cases like this one. that statment kida bothered me cuzz u make it sound like us people who love and care for are iguanas and pour as much money as we can afford into them are bad owners...i make a VERY small salary i meen i work at kfc im not exaclty rich here and i have car payments cell bill and misc. cost and if something like that happend to my ig it would be REALLY hard for me to meet the costs cuzz my parents hate kia and would NEVER but ne money into him(excepts for the occasions when my dad buys him food)but i could never give him up either i meen i have had him since he was a hatchling i love him to death but i can see were he would take him to a vet as would i after i saved money. but my point is that b4 u guys get steamed cuzz u feel like ur coming face to face with the previouse owners of ur igs maybe u should think about the finacial situations of these previouse owners and the ones on this board

You should also notice that some of us said, "you can work out a payment plan with most vets" Which is true. The herp vets in my area (I drive 100 miles one way to get to my vet) allow you to work on payment plans. So there is really no reason you cannot provide your iguana with vet care no matter what your financial problems are. I know for fact that some will let you pay 20 bux a month if not less as long as you are PAYING and not just letting it sit.
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Heather, Vern, Andy, Router, April And OODLES of fish

i like ur iggy i wish i could let mine do that she 3 ft

It does seem like your iguana has a broken limb.......
He needs to get to a vet ASAP. He could have metabolic bone disease.
Iguana's cost a lot of money period. I just spent $700 plus on plastic surgery to repair the damage he did during breeding season. I have spent thousands on this animal as many on this forum have. If you are not willing to get this animal at minimum proper vet care then start the adoption process. He deserves a better home then you are willing to provide.

ok im only 14 and it doesnt matter to me if u like what i comment but....if my iggy hert her leg/shoulder i would pay however much it takes for her to be healthy..thats jus what i would do but i dunno if u wana pay that much?! but 1st b4 i would pay that much i would need to know the age cuz if u jus bought it then no cuz then i would jus let it heal on its own but if its an older iggy then yes i would pay for the stuff tha it needs cuz my iggy hert her leg but it wasnt like broken it was jus herting for like 5 minutes like it stunned her....well thats what i have to say lol

No matter what age the iguana is he would still need to get vet care!!! Even a hatchling needs vet care even more so with broken limbs because with a younger animal the limbs and body are still growing and not treating a brokin bone can cause deformitys which can easily cause other health problems!!!!

You guys have covered a lot of what needs to be said on the subject, but I wanted to add a few more things:

-- Exotic animals such as green iguanas are still wild animals with the instincts of wild animals. Wild animals, especially prey species, such as green iguanas, and most especially smaller green iguanas, mask pain and sickness as long as they can to evade being targeted by a predator. Predators aren't stupid: given a choice between a large, healthy and FAST prey animal and one who is slow and weak, they will go after the latter as it ultimately will expend less of their energy resources than going after a big healthy one. So, we can't assume our iguanas aren't in pain or discomfort just because they doesn't act like it.

-- It is far easier to set up a payment plan with a vet if you have previous experience with that vet and have already demonstrated that you are a caring, responsible owner who pays bills on time. Vets get burned too often by strangers coming in with seriously sick and injured animals requiring lots of care, only to find that the contact information the owner left is false and no one ever comes to claim the animal. Or, the owner picks up the animal but never pays the balance of the charges. Since all new iguanas should be checked out shortly after acquisition, there's no excuse for not having some sort of an established relationship when one's iguana gets sick or injured down the line.

-- Whether or not they think it through before hand, parents are legally responsible for the actions and care of their children's pet. Morally and ethically, they are also primarily responsible for the daily and long-term care and training of the pet, and financially responsible for all of the pets needs, including veterinary care. It's fine if the pet "belongs" to the child and the child is "responsible" for the daily care, etc., but the parent, having primary responsibility, must be prepared and willing to step in and take care of the pet, clean, feed, supply and handle the pet if their child fails to do so or do so correctly. If the parents aren't willing, then they should not allow the child to have a pet, or the species that the parents aren't willing to maintain themselves.

Unfortunately, some parents need to be reminded of that fact. I touch on the issue in my So, You Think You Want A Reptile? article. Properly caring for pets, including reptiles, including ensuring the provision of necessary veterinary care, is the law in many states. Failure to do so can legally get the parent in trouble if the issue is pressed by a neighbor or family friend (or, frankly, a child whose parents won't help them get their pet the care it requires).

-- Emergencies and unexpected expenses are a fact of life when you have children or pets. I have been on disability for years, and likely will be from here on out. Money isn't just tight every month, it's pretty much non-existent. What I do have is an account I set aside strictly for veterinary emergencies. Fortunately, the beasties have been pretty good the past couple of years, and what has occurred came out of my monthly funds...which meant I went without things that I wanted and needed, but getting the vet care my lizard needed outweighed my needs at that time.

The bottom line is: if you can't afford a vet, don't get the pet.

I understand all too well that people's lives change, but if you know from the start that you cannot afford veterinary care if something should happen (let alone the routine check-ups and worming), or know that your family or friends will not give or loan you the money for vet care, then don't get the pet.

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Melissk
anapsid.org
Iguanas for Dummies