Iguana Cloe

Question
My ig. is 3 years old and her front left leg is dangling. I think she may have broken or pulled it out of the socket. How can I tell which one it is? What can I do to help her. I don't have a vet local to take her to nor the $$$ at this time. Please Please help me I feel so bad for her. Can she die from this?

Answer
Dear Kelly,

I have some questions for you so that I can better understand the situation here. Now, you say her left leg is dangling.
1- Is it completely limp?
2- Does she put weight on it when she walks?
3- Can she move her leg at all?
4- Is her knee swollen or any other part of the leg?

This could be a number of things and none of them are good. The first thing would be torn ligaments which would usually result in swelling and pain where the iguana could move the leg but will avoid putting weight on it. The other possibilities could be a broken bone, dislocation of a ball and socket joint, I mean it is just too hard to say. In fact, it probably isn't even worth figuring out if you do not plan to go to a vet. By not going to a vet, you cannot provide her with the rehabilitative services to repair the damage, so you just have to worry about keeping her comfortable. Under normal circumstances, a vet would take x-rays and see the relationship of the bone to the surrounding tissue and then recommend either a cast or surgery or neither. It is important to remember NOT to try and make your own cast because you could set the bone wrong.
The best you can do for her is the following: keep her hydrated and fed well with a calcium supplement to help her skeletal system recover faster.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: PUT HER IN A SMALL ENCLOSURE WHERE SHE CANNOT CLIMB ABOUT, FALL OR SUSTAIN FURTHER INJURY.

There is nothing you can give her for pain that humans take because animals don't metabolize drugs the same way as we do and you could not possibly know how much to give her of a particular drug because the dosage is directly correlated to weight and milligrams, so DONT TRYT THIS, for this could be dangerous to her kidneys.

Broken bones generally heal in 6-8 weeks
Torn ligaments generally heal in 12-16 weeks
If she has a dislocated joint, she will probably just develop scar tissue in that joint and have a deformity over time.

You asked if this could kill her, the answer is, it could but it probably won't. It is always possible that infection could brew and that the blood could become septic, that is why vets usually give anitbiotics with injuries. If you feel the leg is super hot and swollen, this could be a sign it is septic and then it becomes life threatening.

Now, I have one more thing to mention before I sign off: if your iguana is breaking bones, she probably has some level of calcium deficiency. Iguanas are VERY susceptible to developing Metabolic Bone Disease. This is a disease where iguanas become severely calcium deficient because of either poor diet or no UVB light exposure. Without UVB light, an iguana cannot digest calcium at all and so their bodies extract it from the bones and leave the bones very brittle. Also, a bad diet that deprives the iguana of calcium could contribute to this or cause it. You should be feeding collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, squash, peas, green beans, escarole, parsnips, fruits, dandelions, etc.
IGUANAS SHOULD NEVER EAT LETTUCE (Yes, even Romaine), INSECTS, SPINACH, BROCCOLI, CARROTS, CABBAGE OR A LOT OF KALE.

MAKE SURE YOU CHANGE YOUR DIET IF IT DOESN'T SOUND PROPER AND ALSO USE A CALCIUM CARBONATE POWER SUPPLEMENT DURING FEEDING WHILE SHE IS INJURED. FINALLY, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, REPLACE YOUR LIGHT TO A TOP QUALITY LIGHT LIKE "EXO TERRA SOLAR GLO SUN SIMULATING LAMP" OR ZOO MED'S "POWERSUN", THEY ARE ESPECIALLY FORMULATED TO PREVENT METABOLIC BONE DISEASE.