Baby gecko broken shoulder

[sleepyjones]

Howdy folks.
I was in the local pet store at the weekend, picking up some crickets and mealworms for my leos, while I was in there I went through the back to take a look at what they had (as I always do, without any intention of getting any new geckos), and I noticed they had a wee leo in the tank that appeared to have a broken front right shoulder. I spoke to the guy about it and he said he hadn't noticed and I got the impression he was just gonna destroy it, so I took it home with me.

I only got him home yesterday, so he's probably still a bit unsure of his new surroundings and seemed to stay in his warm hide for all of last night.
I've put a small bowl of Calcium into that hide, and a small cap full of water so that he doesn't have to traipse about the tank to get what he needs. I was also feeding mealworms straight into the entrance of his hide so hunting wasn't too taxing on his arm (he ate 2 or 3 mealworms, so that's good).

I'm not sure how old he is, but I think about 4 - 6 months.
I didn't want to get any pictures, as I don't want to stress him too much with a broken arm, and new home.

It might not actually be a break, it could be a dislocation ... it's way up at the shoulder (ie, not the ankle or elbow, the very top joint), so when he walks that arm seems to just flop around a lot. a;though the elbow looks fine and in a constant ¬ type shape (the normal angle you'd expect) Im not sure how you gauge if a Leo' is in distress, but to be honest he looks pretty happy to me.

I will be taking him to the vet, but the earliest I can do it is tomorrow, or Wednesday, is there anything I can do in the meantime to make life a bit easier for the wee guy?

cheers folks
I'll keep you updated on how he's doing

 

[Bellalee]

Just keep doing what your doing! He's lucky he was seen by you, good luck at the vets.

 

[Whitey]

I would say creats a splint and try to keep his arm straight but its not his arm, its his shoulder. I hate to say this but Bellalee is right, just keep doing what your doing... making it easier on him by allowing him not to walk that much on it. I hope its just a dislocation rather then a break. Keep up updated.

 

[sleepyjones]

Thanks guys.
Got an appointment for the vets tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 9:10am.

Just need to wangle the time off work now

EDIT : Morning off work wangled

 

[Whitey]

Never heard of the word wangled but Im sure it means something along the lines of wrangled??? lol I get your point though.

 

[sleepyjones]

It's probably a UK word, or even a Scottish word.
To be honest I wasn't sure either what it means so I had to Google it there

"The act of wangling; To obtain through manipulative or deceitful methods:"

Not quite what I thought it meant, but oh well

Starting to worry about the cost of getting this wee guy seen to, the more I think about it the more I worry about it as im supposed to be going to Dublin in two weeks.

ahh well, we'll see how it goes tomorrow ... time to not be selfish.

 

[Bellalee]

I wish you only good luck.. and hopefully that it is not too expensive, and there is something you can do about it.

 

[Alusdra]

Post the x-rays, if you take any and you can- that would be really neat. Well, not for the gecko, obviously. Good job taking him in! Though I would give that store a piece of my mind for not looking after their animals properly.

 

[sleepyjones]

Ok.
Just back from the vet.
Bit of a mixed prognosis really. Turns out I was wrong, it's not in the shoulder it's actually front left arm Femur, and it's a clean break. The vet wasn't very optimistic at the start as it is a really bad break, pretty much straight away she suggested we just give him a bit of gas and send him to sleep, but once we got to talking more about it she started suggesting things we could maybe do to help the wee guy. (I don't know if she was just looking for the cheapest option for me, then realised I was willing to pay for treatment. )
First thing is to get an x-ray to check for any congenital bone disease (as I've no idea how it got broke in the first place), and we'll see where it goes from there.

She (the vet) said they wouldn't really be able to splint the leg as the gecko is too small, and it would be too risky to try to amputate as the chances of him coming out of the anesthetic were slim, but on the bright side she did say that if there was still blood flow through the leg then they could leave it to heal itself within 4 - 8 weeks, the leg wouldn't heal straight, and it'd be a bit bent but he should be able to use it without any problems ... just depends on what the outcome of the x-ray is.
I should get the results later this afternoon, in the meantime I managed to snap a couple of pictures while I had the wee guy out

As you can see, he is pretty young and small.
(But he is eating a couple of mealworms a day since I've had him)

 

[Bellalee]

Poor little dude.. Do you think he's in pain?
... and I was going to say something but it's too early in the morning to remember.. haha.

 

[sleepyjones]

I don't know if he's in pain, he certainly doesn't project the impression that he's in pain, but I wonder how you know / can tell if they're in pain?

Another reason were getting the x-ray is because we don't know when he actually broke it. It could have been weeks ago, it could have been Saturday, we don't know really.

Hopefully we'll get some answers this afternoon.

 

[sleepyjones]

Vet just called!

Confirmed that the wee guy has a fractured humerous, and also has Metabolic Bone Disease.
The x-ray shows a very faint Bone Density which probably helped cause the Pathological fracture.
(This probably doesn't make sense, but Im trying to piece together what he said from the short hand on Post-it-Notes that I was writing while on the phone).

He suggested that I pick him up, and just make sure he gets his D1 and calcium, also try and get a 300 nano UV light (or something). The leg and the bones are too small to try and fix the break, and amputation wouldn't be worth the risk. However he has a good chance of a callus? forming on the bone which will heal it in time (but won't look pretty) with plenty of TLC.

He also said if it was any other reptile, such as a bearded dragon of this size, it wouldn't have survived.

So, im gonna go pick him up later on this evening, and try and get a copy of the x-ray for you guys to see.

Also gonna pick up a new viv for him tonight ... bloomin geckos are an expensive hobby, but you gotta love em.

 

[Alusdra]

Hooray! That gecko was really lucky to find you. It's a sad fact that many people who have reptiles don't want to pay more than the cost to replace the animal, which is really depressing. He doesn't look too bad off, considering. He is definitely skinny, though! Try to feed him as many bugs as he will eat and leave a bunch in the cage at all times, dusted really well. It's a great sign that he's eating on his own!

It's hard to know if reptiles hurt, and the data is sort of spotty on what sort of meds work or not. See if your vet will give you something to give him... though there might only be injectables available. Pain meds do help in healing, though.

The vet probably said (from what you've recited) that the gecko has a pathologic fracture of the humerus. Also there is decreased bone density likely from low calcium levels due to inappropriate supplementation. They suggested treating with calcium and vitamin D3 supplementation and a UV-B lightbulb (which has a wavelength of 320 nm–280 nm). The vet thinks that the bone will likely form a callus on its own.

Translated: gecko was neglected, his bones are weak, so they broke just from normal walking around ("pathologic"). Now he needs to have his calcium in his body increased (vet's recommendations: light, powder) so his bones can harden. An important step in bone healing is forming a callus, which is like a scab for your bone, essentially.

Here's some Wikipedia links if you want to read about that stuff: UV light and bone healing

And it's really not that expensive a hobby... unless you rescue ones with broken bones and give them excellent care. :main_thumbsup:

 

[ajveachster]

Best of luck, and keep us updated.

 

[keepzrollin]

You should try some phoenix worms I heard they are really high in calcium. I personally havent tried them but i have wanted to. I juat heard they are good and for your little huy he sure needs all the calcium he can get for those bones.

 

[sleepyjones]

I've havn't seen phoenix worms over here, but I'll keep an eye out.

Finally named the wee guy ... Stumpy
Got him home last night, worryingly he wasn't up for eating anything, but I assume that's just because he's had a bit of a stressful day at the vets.
Couldn't get the new vivarium last night either so he was confined to his wee tub.

Anyway, here's what you wanna see, the X-ray ... unfortunately the vet wouldn't let me take a copy home as they "need to keep them for their records", but he did let me take a picture of them with my phone.

Apparently you can tell it's MDB as the bones are pretty much the same colour as the flesh in the X-ray, wheras the bones should be much brighter.

Link to fullsizes :

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3309/3485052653_661819c0dd_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3408/3485866212_b4c0dd2865_o.jpg

 

[sleepyjones]

Stumpy has obviously forgotten the stress of the vet visit as he ate 8 meal worms in quick succession last night, only 1 less than my older, much bigger Leo, Iggy!.

So, all is looking good at the moment.
There is hope for people with Leo's who think they have an unfightable fight on their hands.

He's also got a new home to look forward to tonight ... just gotta clean it all out tonight and let the temperatures settle before I introduce him to his new pad.

 

[Bellalee]

Your so good to him! He really is lucky to have you..

 

[ariana]

i wish all geckos had you to save them

 

[sleepyjones]

aww thanks guys.

Im sure any one of you would have done the same thing though