Broken leg??

I mounted a UVB light in my bearded dragons tank. When I came home for lunch from work it had fallen. My Beardy obviously is freaked out, but I'm worried it may have hurt him. He is sitting on a log with one of his legs dangling off and his eyes are a little sunken. When I get near, he puffs up real big and his beard gets darker. Input??

Oh my, that would certainly freak him out...The fact that his leg is dangling like that means nothing, they all do that while basking, laying, sitting, sleeping, all the time, they do the craziest things with their legs and contort their bodies into the oddest positions that eventually you'll get used to it. So that isn't indicative of a leg injury at all, but I'd put him on flat ground or a flat surface and make him walk, see if he's limping or favoring any limbs or feet/toes, see if he is acting like he's in any pain at all (is he black bearding?), and just watch him. Hopefully he's just freaked out and shaken up, he should snap out of it quickly as long as he's not injured.

As far as the UVB tube, yes, it must be strapped to the underside of the mesh lid, especially if it's a weaker T8 strength of UVB tube, that's a requirement and not optional at all because the mesh lid will block 40% at least of the already very weak UVb tube, but usually if you just poke 4 holes in the mesh over the Hot Side of the tank, so that the UVb tube with be able to be right alongside the bright-white colored basking bulb, so that both lights are right alongside each other and sharing the top of the Hot Side of the tank (with his basking spot/platform positioned right underneath both lights so he gets both at the same time while basking), then use either long, plastic zip ties, wire, twine, string, shoelaces, etc. to feed through the holes in the mesh and to strap the entire tube fixture to the underside of the mesh lid, then tie them or fasten them on top of the mesh at both ends of the fixture, they won't fall. If you happened to use some type of Velcro or the like, and it got too hot and loosened, etc. then that can happen...

I'm glad that his leg dangling that way isn't indicative of an injury. When I go to pick him up, he hissed at me. I'm not sure how to put him on a surface without him freaking out. Suggestions?

Hi there, I agree that they do sit like that at times naturally. There is the possibility that's it's injured though....he may be defensive from pain or from fear. Just go ahead + pick him up and set him on a flat surface, they hiss when upset but rarely bite. If you feel safer with gloves on then do it that way. Or if you can pick up the entire log + bring it to your floor he might hop off it.

That's too bad that the fixture fell in, any idea how that happened ?

After taking him out of his cage, I noticed a scratch on his face near his eye. This was not here this morning! I think it hit him on his head!! The dark color by his mouth is blackberry, the cut is by his eye. I think that's why his eye looks sunken in too! I'm not sure what to do!! Helppp

Is that the little scratch on his ridge above his eye ? That won't cause any problem. And if his actual eye was injured it would be sensitive + he'd keep it closed. That little scratch will be fine. If you want, put a ab of raw honey on, it heals things very quickly.

How is his leg ? Is he walking O.K ?

How do I get him to walk? I got him off his log but he is just sitting there. I am trying to nudge him, but.. he's not moving

Will he go after a favorite insect ? If not, prompt him gently by pushing [ not pulling ] him by the base of his tail . He's probably [ hopefully ] just shook up.

I tried to do both and nothing. I tried to push his back legs forward too and it just moved his whole body.

You can just put him back in his tank, he'll move around eventually.

I (reluctantly) went back to work after I put Pepper back in his cage. I left a few dubia roaches and some beardy packaged food there for him (he hasn't been eating at all the last week from relocation stress (had him 1week) AND shedding. Now this!). He ate everything and looks WAY less mad at me! His legs look fine and his cut is very small. I think he got thunked by the light, but was mostly just frazzled. Thank you all for your input!! I am going to secure the uvb bulb with shoe laces this time. I was using 3 command strips rated for 6 lbs each. But I think they got melty in the sun.
Thank you all again.

Oh good, that's what we thought it would be. It could have been worse so this is great to hear .