Help, my beardy fell, unsure what to do

[sweeteagurl2008]

Hi, I have a bearded dragon that is about 2-3 years old. Earlier she fell from about 3 feet onto the carpeted floor. Shortly after I noticed she wasn't walking right. I can't tell which leg or area might have been hurt because she only moves a tiny bit instead then stops. I now see that she is keeping her right hip not level. Her right side is also a bit more tense looking too. She wants to keep moving but I'm worried shes going to hurt whatever was hurt even more. I very lightly ran my fingertip along her legs, side and back to see if she reacted to possibly pinpoint the affected area, but she doesn't seem to react like I hit a bad spot. She kind of limps, more like how they move when they are on a smooth surface and can't get traction. This happened about 3-4 hours ago. She still has an appetite and is alert, but I worry about how she is kinda leaning to one side. I didn't see how she landed.

 

[sweeteagurl2008]

I'm just wondering what would be the best action for the moment, I can't take her to a vet right now since its 1030 at night, but would it help to put her in a warm bath to perhaps relax her muscles or just put her in her cage and turn off the light so she'll go to sleep and won't move around and possibly damage anything worse.
Her coloring is still good, but she doesn't seem to want to stay up on all fours. Then again she normally doesn't unless she's hunting/eating.

 

[CooperDragon]

How is her beard color? If it's normal color rather than black, that's probably a good sign. It's hard to say if she caused damage or if she's just a little bit shaken by the fall. Hopefully she's just a bit shaken and will return to normal soon. For now. I'd just hold her and keep her as still as possible. If she falls asleep, put her to bed on a folded towel or something else soft and let her rest. If she shows any signs of favoring a leg or something along those lines tomorrow, try to keep her as immobilized as possible and consult with an experienced reptile vet if you have one nearby. An x-ray may reveal broken bones but my hope is that she's just a little stunned and will be fine. 3 feet isn't too bad of a fall from what I've seen, especially if she landed on something relatively soft like carpet.

 

[sweeteagurl2008]

Thank you. Yeah her beard isn't black. I was surprised she was affected at all by the fall. I just wish I would have seen how she landed. I don't think anything is broken. Her right thigh seemed a little bit bigger than the left so maybe she just pulled a muscle a little bit? Or it could just be that one leg was in a different angle than the other.
I just checked on her and she's laying in her water dish. Just her lower half though. She almost never goes in her water dish so I hope it's helping.

 

[sweeteagurl2008]

She's still walking funny like yesterday. Once again I tried running my fingertip along her legs, sides and spine with no reaction. Her left side is a little more round than the right. When she lays down she doesn't lay straight. Her right hip is a touch more raised than the right. Her coloring is still good and she's attentive...maybe another day will do the trick. Does anyone have any idea what might be the source of her strange walking? Hip, leg, joint, spine, internal organs? She seems to be breathing fine.

 

[sweeteagurl2008]

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[CooperDragon]

It's a good sign that she isn't black bearding and is still relatively active. Another sign of internal injury would be blood in the stool so keep an eye out for that. I don't see anything outwardly wrong based on the photos. It's possible that one of her joints is bothering her. You could try offering some silk worms or some liquid serrapeptase to help reduce joint inflammation if that's the case. Can you post a video of her walking? A video could be uploaded to a site like vimeo and then linked here.

 

[sweeteagurl2008]

Here's a video I'll post it in the following message.

I'm just so worried, I don't want her to be disabled. Or in pain if that's the case at all. Her stool didn't have any blood in it.

 

[sweeteagurl2008]

 

[johnnyze]

I am not an expert like a few people on this site but I was reading this and I just wanted to saw that the moment I saw her the first thing I thought was "Aww, so cute"

You have a beautiful bearded dragon

 

[CooperDragon]

She definitely seems to be favoring one side. Hopefully it's just a little inflammation and will clear up. Try some silk worms. If that doesn't help after a few days, it may be worth a vet visit if you have an experienced reptile vet nearby.

 

[sweeteagurl2008]

I am not an expert like a few people on this site but I was reading this and I just wanted to saw that the moment I saw her the first thing I thought was "Aww, so cute"

You have a beautiful bearded dragon

Thank you ( ^ u ^ )
She really is gorgeous, I got her from Dachiu dragons. She's a bit odd in that she only grew like 3 inches over 2 1/2 years, but now she's growing an inch a month. She was my teacup dragon for the longest time lol. She's a leatherback/crawley/citrus/Belgium/blood mix. I believe there are a couple more mixed in but unfortunately I lost the original post of her on my old phone.

 

[sweeteagurl2008]

She definitely seems to be favoring one side. Hopefully it's just a little inflammation and will clear up. Try some silk worms. If that doesn't help after a few days, it may be worth a vet visit if you have an experienced reptile vet nearby.

I should be able to track down some silkworms I'm sure. There is a reptile specialist at the emergency vet down the road from me if anything. She's able to move her legs she just doesn't seem to want to. It seems to be her right legs that she's trying to avoid using too much. She's still eating and going to the bathroom normally. I think she might be moving a bit easier, or its just me being hopeful. I've been trying to not make her walk as much as possible so I haven'tbeen able to observe how she's moving now. Her color is still good.
But the fact she's still hobbling along is worrisome.

 

[Pixi]

Honey that's just a sprain. It didn't look too swollen and it looks like she still has full mobility, she just doesn't want to move it because it's sore. For sprains in mammals you're supposed to ice it, but you can't exactly do that with reptiles. Don't use heat, because that will increase swelling in the muscles. You just have to let her ride it out. She'll be ok.