I got my pastel male as a gift about a week and a half ago.

On the way back from the reptile store I was trying to wrangle him back into his bag as I got into the car and he managed to start getting up under the seat. I had him by the lower bit of his body and was trying to pull and wiggle him out as gently as I could while still keeping a firm grip on him. If I'd of let him go he would of disappeared.

He fought me pretty hard and I heard something make a pop/crunch noise . He eventually got tired and gave up so I was able to pull him out. On the surface, nothing was out of place except a few roughed up patches of scales.

At the time unfortunately my local exotics vet was closed. Once we got home I put some heal-x on the damaged scales (love this stuff btw---its made for just about every animal there is and provides pain relief as well as fighting infection and inflammation and healing the skin up faster).
But then I noticed something wasn't quite right---he still moves and flicks his tongue (and can constrict his tail end) but he's not moving as much or as fluidly as is normal. He was a bit better this morning when I checked on him---but he still moves slowly and with a lot of effort---his whole body winds and moves still just not as fluidly as his head and neck do. He just seems a bit stiff and weak on the lower half of his body especially.

I'm so scared I've had him not even two weeks and I've managed to do this to him...I feel terrible.

The vet opens up in a bit and I'll be calling to schedule---I just wanted to know if anyone had any ideas of what this could be? I'm praying for something relatively benign like a pulled muscle or broken rib vs something like spinal cord damage.

Btw, he lives in a 32 qt (he's only about 2.5 feet long and 770 g approx---will be upgrading soon) tub on paper towels. Humidity is about 70%. The warm side is about 85 air temps and 95 on the floor. The cool side is about 73.
He fed like a champ for me last friday after he'd only been home a few days (f/t small rat) and is a dream to handle---very gentle and confident snake.

I really hope he's going to be ok and yes---I've learned my lesson---I will be bagging him up before I start trying to get in the car and keep note of the fact that with my disability in factor he's quicker than I think and I'm slower than I think.