Homemade Cast

A quick summary of what happened: Came back home from college for the weekend (mom has been taking care of my beardie), uncle says he found her with a leg of furniture on her arm, the arm is now limping, I take her to the vet and it's fractured. Only options to get it fixed is surgery or home rest. With both options, they said it might not heal perfectly and I was heartbroken. I asked if they could give her a cast, but they said it's not possible.

So I have her on medication that I syringe feed once a day, and I tried making a cast for her. Do you guys think it looks okay? Should I make it more so it's shaped like her other arm? It's essentially a wooden splint I cut and sanded, wrapped in the sticky gauze, and taped together with waterproof medical tape (no idea what the actual terminology for any of this is called). I don't know how to upload images on this site, I think I paste the link?
Let me know how to do it if I didn't get it lol.

Also, she is a picky eater in general, doesn't like to eat crickets, and sometimes the supers beat her up so she stops eating bc she gets discouraged. Any tips on how to get her to eat or if I should get new insects to feed?

Hello,

I think the cast looks great, no need to make any changes. It will need to stay on for awhile,
at least a couple of months anyway to be sure it heals up.
Does she seem to be in pain at all?
Have you adjusted her basking spot distance so that she doesn't have to climb so much to get
close to her basking & UVB?
I hope she heals up just fine for you.

Tracie

She doesn't seem to be in pain at all except when the vet was touching her arm to examine it. The vet said she shouldn't be climbing, so her tank is basically a giant bed now haha.
Do you think it would be good to get her some mushy bearded dragon food and syringe feed her that for now? She doesn't seem to have any appetite.

Thank you for your input!

Hello,

That's great you have made her tank a huge comfy bed, she is going to get spoiled! LOL
That will be fine to get some softer foods for her. What did you have in mind? You can
get some chicken or turkey baby food & mix it with some squash baby food or sweet potato
baby food. You can also mix some greens in a blender & make a slurry that way, also.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

I didn't know you could feed beardies baby food! I'll definitely get some. I was just thinking any bagged food (I know they're not nearly as nutritious as live insects) since she barely eats her supers as it is. But I'll just try to incorporate the baby food mixture instead. She just sleeps most of the time and hopefully, she'll heal up okay.

Thank you for all the input, Tracie!

While the home made caste looks fine.

A vet telling you a caste on a lizard's arm is not possible is not a good vet.

See this for examples of how lizard's broken legs are helped to heal using a cast
http://reptile-parrots.com/forums/showthread.php/4296-Orthopedics-and-Fracture-Repair-in-Reptiles
(and yes some need a pin inserted surgically under a general - my George the BTS had this done , wasn't cheap , but the whole procedure took 2 hrs including recovery.

Which arm bone is broken ?


I know for a fact that a caste can made to immobilize a lizard's arm , my George broke his arm somehow in this rearing tub when he was a very rambunctious juvenile , the vet inserted a tiny "HOME MADE" stainless steel pin into the humerus (??) bone (which was split in spiral break) , and George came home with right arm in full arm caste that included his shoulder that completely immobilized his right arm .
His elbow , and shoulder where immobilized by the cast , and I was prescribed CalciVet to give orally by syringe twice her day and told to feed him high protein foods (slow moving insects) .

Not that that stopped or slowed him down, though he was certainly happier and more active every 2nd day when I injected him with his anti-inflammatory/anti-biotic/pain relief injection.

6 weeks later he was back for more xrays and the caste removed and he's never had any mobility issues , he's now nudging 9 years old.

gabooty":1zqf5tbc said:

A quick summary of what happened: Came back home from college for the weekend (mom has been taking care of my beardie), uncle says he found her with a leg of furniture on her arm, the arm is now limping, I take her to the vet and it's fractured. Only options to get it fixed is surgery or home rest. With both options, they said it might not heal perfectly and I was heartbroken. I asked if they could give her a cast, but they said it's not possible.

So I have her on medication that I syringe feed once a day, and I tried making a cast for her. Do you guys think it looks okay? Should I make it more so it's shaped like her other arm? It's essentially a wooden splint I cut and sanded, wrapped in the sticky gauze, and taped together with waterproof medical tape (no idea what the actual terminology for any of this is called). I don't know how to upload images on this site, I think I paste the link?

Let me know how to do it if I didn't get it lol.

Also, she is a picky eater in general, doesn't like to eat crickets, and sometimes the supers beat her up so she stops eating bc she gets discouraged. Any tips on how to get her to eat or if I should get new insects to feed?

Click to expand...

try - silkworms …. they don't bite back, don't run away very fast, are soft and very juicy , and better still are high Ca/P and full of natural enzymes that help reduce inflammation, and most lizards find them irresistible.

Hello,

Let us know how she is doing.
Silkworms are great. You can try those also, she shouldn't have any trouble with them.
You could get some beardie bites which are soft chews & moisten them & make them into
the slurry also.

Tracie

Thank you so much for everyone's input. I decided to not do the pin because I'm a very broke college student, and the doctor looked unconfident of their abilities to perform surgery on a lizard. I think it's her humerus that snapped in half.
The cast is doing well on her I think, she doesn't "drag" her arm anymore and kinda uses it like normal since there's a wooden splint in there.

I'll buy some baby food, beardie bites, and blend that all in with some veggies to syringe feed her.
Where do people usually get silkworms? She had them once when she was younger and didn't seem that interested in them, but I can always try again!

I bought a hornworm once for her and she seemed to like it, but it was so juicy and gross I couldn't do it again LOL.

Hello,

It sounds like she is doing pretty well then with her little cast! It should heal up just fine
with the cast, but you'll need to leave it on awhile.
Let me check on where to find silkworms. They can be hard to get sometimes.
Is she eating anything yet? I think she will like the slurries you make her.

Tracie

gabooty":2a7i9v34 said:

Thank you so much for everyone's input. I decided to not do the pin because I'm a very broke college student, and the doctor looked unconfident of their abilities to perform surgery on a lizard. I think it's her humerus that snapped in half.
The cast is doing well on her I think, she doesn't "drag" her arm anymore and kinda uses it like normal since there's a wooden splint in there.

I'll buy some baby food, beardie bites, and blend that all in with some veggies to syringe feed her.
Where do people usually get silkworms? She had them once when she was younger and didn't seem that interested in them, but I can always try again!

<<<< Check the classifieds in the local newspaper , the notice board at the local library or mall , Ebay , if in the USA Craigs List , Etsy …. lots of people have silkworms at infants and primary schools = yrs 0-6 (so the kids can see their lifecycle) , others have little cottage industries going (esp if they access to a big or several big mulberry trees) where they farm the silkworms in the spare room and sell the eggs, the worms, leaves (by the bag full) and even cocoons.


I bought a hornworm once for her and she seemed to like it, but it was so juicy and gross I couldn't do it again LOL.

Click to expand...

Another good option = Repashi GrubPie , this will be better than "Bites" or baby food.

She has been eating some slurries and her usual veggies. I tried some super again and she seemed a lot more interested this time. She ate a lot! I'll still check for silkworms soon though.
I snuck her on my uni's campus housing since I need to watch her pretty closely now. I might redo the cast at the end of this week, but she seems like she's doing fine. Just pretty lethargic with meds, but she's usually pretty lazy in general.

gabooty":t0o5l151 said:

She has been eating some slurries and her usual veggies. I tried some super again and she seemed a lot more interested this time. She ate a lot! I'll still check for silkworms soon though.
I snuck her on my uni's campus housing since I need to watch her pretty closely now. I might redo the cast at the end of this week, but she seems like she's doing fine. Just pretty lethargic with meds, but she's usually pretty lazy in general.

Click to expand...

If it's adhesive type of tape …. leave it alone and only remove if it's worked loose over time , the risk is the adhesive may damage her skin if it is hard to remove and you may do more damage to her bones while removing it.

I suggest getting some CALCIVET solution http://vetafarm.com.au/product/calcivet/ to give to her daily while her bones are mending....