Blue-tongue lizard may have broken front leg

Question
Hi Diane
One of my sons baby blue-tongue looks like he may have a broken front leg. It's limp but he can move his fingers a little. He still eats and drinks and can move by dragging his front leg. I called the vet today to see if there is anything they could do for him and they advised if it is broken he would have to be put to sleep. Do you have ANY advise at all as i thought they may have been able to plaster it.. he's still only under six months old and thought he'd make a good recovery if it were plasted?
Many Thanks

Answer
Hi Kristy,
I don't have much experience with Blue Tongue Skinks(I am assuming this is the species you are referring to)but some good info is available at: http://www.anapsid.org/bluetong.html
and also http://www.bluetongueskinks.net/care.htm which has tons of info..its a link I refer to many times to help people out.
As to your question...
the vet you contacted is wrong!!!   A reptiles leg can be set and casted/splinted same as any other animals!!!  Its so sad that a vet gave you that horrible information!!  I'm so sorry for that.  Here are links to finding vets in your area that treat reptiles.
http://www.anapsid.org/vets/
http://www.arav.org/Directory.htm

Also, I want to mention something about proper uvb lighting as most pet stores do not sell a person the correct light for uvb. Here is my info on proper uvb, which is vital to the skinks. Without it, they will develope metabolic bone disease, which causes deformed bones, soft bones and eventually death. Please be sure that your skinks have the proper uvb as its important for his recovery from the leg break.
LIGHTING:
Supplying uvb can be done in a few ways. By special lights
that come in fluorescent tubes or special screw in bulbs
(mercury vapor)that are designed to produce uvb and heat.
The tubes do not produce heat. UVB is needed by the lizard
to be able to absorb the calcium in the foods they eat.
With out the uvb, they will develop metabolic bone disease.
With the tubes, they must say that they produce BOTH uvb and
uva. The uvb needs to be 5% or higher. Repti Sun 10.0 and the Repti Glo 8.0's
are a great source for uvb. The old "favorites" are the repti sun 5.0 or the
Iguana light..which are the same tube, just different package.
There are tubes that say ''full spectrum'' but they do not produce any uvb.
These need to be positioned 6-8 inches over the lizard for the 5% and 8%
and 8-10 inches for the 10% so
that they get the uvb that is needed. The tubes need to be replaced every 6-9
months as that they stop producing UVB long before they stop producing light.
Using a fixture that holds two uvb tubes of at least 3 feet in length will
provide adequate uvb for your lizard. There has been new studies that have proven that compact uvb lights, both the spiral/coil type and the ones that look like long "U's" laying on their side and a few other brands are causing what basically amounts to snow blindness in reptiles.  To read more on this, you can go to
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm
On the mercury vapor , they also produce heat. They also
produce the uvb and uva. The best on the market now are the
Mega Rays.(http://www.megaray.com) The distance from these are greater
than the uvb tubes and the directions must be followed that
are listed for the light. When using the mercury vapor
lights, you don't need to have one light for uvb and one for
heat. The Mercury vapor lights provide both.
For daytime heat, if using the tube uvb, regular household
incandescent light bulbs produce heat. The wattage will
depend on the size of your iguanas enclosure. and the room temperature.
Of course, the best uvb is from the
sun and if you are in an area that you are able to take your lizard outside in
a proper enclosure, (Never a tank or enclosed, solid cage)