Hello, I'm fairly new to the tegu lizard species, but so far they are amazing, if my tegu were to represent all tegus 
I originally received Diesel (my tegu) untamed about 2-3 months ago, he is about 5 months old or so. He scampered about and hid in his cage, refusing to be handled. I used several methods I read about online here to tame him. (Bathtub and shirt techniques are the best! Shoutout to all of the members who informed me of various taming methods on my previous thread) Diesel now walks on a leash outside daily, lays on my back while I play piano, and comes when called (when I have food of course)
I am creating this thread because about an hour ago, I was brushing my teeth with Diesel on my shoulder, and he must have saw a spider or something crawl across the floor because he, out of nowhere, turned around and leaped off my shoulder right onto the ground. I knew this would not end well, because Diesel is about two feet now, a pretty good size... I was shocked and unprepared, usually he stays very still and relaxes when he's on me. It's also late, around his bedtime and he's usually sleepy and not active Much too late to be jumping off of humans... Unfortunately I did not react to catch him in time, and he landed right on his back on the floor. Diesel layed there on his back at first, with his mouth open. I picked him up and flipped him over and he didn't move, he just flicked his tongue in and out with his eyes open and his arms back as if he was in a sleeping position. I put him on the ground nudged for him to move and he really struggled, not moving the entire front half of his body, his arms, or his neck. He just kicked his legs to try to propel himself forward. At first, I thought it was the end and he had clearly broken his back and that he was done because he looked so helpless, but he was moving his legs, which was strange... I picked him up and quickly massaged his entire spine to feel for any clean breaks and listen for possible popping or grating sounds, but his spine seemed whole and normal... After about 10-20 minutes of massaging and trying to figure out what was wrong, Diesel was walking around... Well, kind of walking. He struggles immensely with his upper left arm, putting all of his weight on his right arm and attempting to transfer it to his left arm, but instead fails to plant it down and collapses on his chest. I felt his arm for possible breaks and nothing feels broken, and he can still use the muscles in his arm, he just doesn't walk on it. He fails to put it underneath his body to support his weight transfer from his right arm, and when he does manage, it is tenuous and results in a quick weight transfer back to his right upper arm...
Aside from a possible breakage, the only thing I can think of would be a shoulder dislocation or a strain. From the way he fell, I barely caught a sight of the absolute fall because I was turned around looking in the mirror but it looked like he landed on his upper left shoulder or back. This leads me to believe a possible dislocation, but I have absolutely no idea how to make a diagnosis. Would I need to visit the vet or get an X-ray? I have a tight budget right now sadly, I spent it on extra pinkies and a new cage, if I were to spend over $100 on a vet trip It would have to be in a couple weeks when I receive my next check and I think that may be too late ANY HELP OR POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! Maybe how to tell the difference between a shoulder/arm strain or a shoulder dislocation? possible home treatments or remedies? Maybe possibly explain the short term paralysis from when he first hit the ground?... Anything is great! Diesel is so young, I don't want my carelessness to be the cause of a possible future disability or amputation....
I will post a video tomorrow morning of him walking or trying to walk. For now, I'm just going to monitor it and let him sleep. Please please please let me know what you think! anything is helpful!
P.S., Something mildly similar has happened before when my sister was babysitting him, he fell off of the bed, she said at first he wouldn't move his legs for the first three minutes and then he went back to walking normally.
I originally received Diesel (my tegu) untamed about 2-3 months ago, he is about 5 months old or so. He scampered about and hid in his cage, refusing to be handled. I used several methods I read about online here to tame him. (Bathtub and shirt techniques are the best! Shoutout to all of the members who informed me of various taming methods on my previous thread) Diesel now walks on a leash outside daily, lays on my back while I play piano, and comes when called (when I have food of course)I am creating this thread because about an hour ago, I was brushing my teeth with Diesel on my shoulder, and he must have saw a spider or something crawl across the floor because he, out of nowhere, turned around and leaped off my shoulder right onto the ground. I knew this would not end well, because Diesel is about two feet now, a pretty good size... I was shocked and unprepared, usually he stays very still and relaxes when he's on me. It's also late, around his bedtime and he's usually sleepy and not active Much too late to be jumping off of humans... Unfortunately I did not react to catch him in time, and he landed right on his back on the floor. Diesel layed there on his back at first, with his mouth open. I picked him up and flipped him over and he didn't move, he just flicked his tongue in and out with his eyes open and his arms back as if he was in a sleeping position. I put him on the ground nudged for him to move and he really struggled, not moving the entire front half of his body, his arms, or his neck. He just kicked his legs to try to propel himself forward. At first, I thought it was the end and he had clearly broken his back and that he was done because he looked so helpless, but he was moving his legs, which was strange... I picked him up and quickly massaged his entire spine to feel for any clean breaks and listen for possible popping or grating sounds, but his spine seemed whole and normal... After about 10-20 minutes of massaging and trying to figure out what was wrong, Diesel was walking around... Well, kind of walking. He struggles immensely with his upper left arm, putting all of his weight on his right arm and attempting to transfer it to his left arm, but instead fails to plant it down and collapses on his chest. I felt his arm for possible breaks and nothing feels broken, and he can still use the muscles in his arm, he just doesn't walk on it. He fails to put it underneath his body to support his weight transfer from his right arm, and when he does manage, it is tenuous and results in a quick weight transfer back to his right upper arm...
Aside from a possible breakage, the only thing I can think of would be a shoulder dislocation or a strain. From the way he fell, I barely caught a sight of the absolute fall because I was turned around looking in the mirror but it looked like he landed on his upper left shoulder or back. This leads me to believe a possible dislocation, but I have absolutely no idea how to make a diagnosis. Would I need to visit the vet or get an X-ray? I have a tight budget right now sadly, I spent it on extra pinkies and a new cage, if I were to spend over $100 on a vet trip It would have to be in a couple weeks when I receive my next check and I think that may be too late
ANY HELP OR POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! Maybe how to tell the difference between a shoulder/arm strain or a shoulder dislocation? possible home treatments or remedies? Maybe possibly explain the short term paralysis from when he first hit the ground?... Anything is great! Diesel is so young, I don't want my carelessness to be the cause of a possible future disability or amputation.... I will post a video tomorrow morning of him walking or trying to walk. For now, I'm just going to monitor it and let him sleep. Please please please let me know what you think! anything is helpful!
P.S., Something mildly similar has happened before when my sister was babysitting him, he fell off of the bed, she said at first he wouldn't move his legs for the first three minutes and then he went back to walking normally.
