Samson poo!

Silkyslim

New Member
So I have had Samson for a few days now and he seems to be pretty dang regular (not sure if its a trend for chams) but he found his favorite poo spot to do his dirty work. Today I happen to be woken up and I looked over and saw him in his poo spot with his poop stance in full effect. The smallest lil poo came out I have seen yet and there was just this small (bout the thickness of a hair) "strand" for lack of better term stuck in his vent. When he was in poo stance it was out but as soon as he went to move about his other business the lil thing went back inside.
It was very short and translucent. My first thought is a parasite but I was under the impression he was parasite free (Sandy from NW chams said she would peek at his poo and make sure it was good before she shipped him my way.)
I'm mostly curious at this point, tomorrow he should have a big ole poo as he ate like a pig today, so hopefully I will have more info then. I was just wondering if any other owner has seen something like this.
I have a bottle of Reptaid I also ordered with Samson but I really don't want to start to use it until next month if I don't have to.

Here is a link to my husbandry card if anyone missed it:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-new-7-mo-sambava-45835/
 
Did you snap a picture? Maybe it was a sperm plug, you said he was 7 mo right? I don't know, maybe if you had a pic....
 
Yeah I did think about it, but by the time I grabbed my camera he was already walking off doing his thing. I have the camera close to the cage so if that lil thing pops back out I can try to grab a pic.

What is a sperm plug? It sounds like something I could find out about at urbandictionary.com lol

yeah he is 7 mo. Is he getting close to reaching sexual maturity? I never did to much reading about reproducing as this is my first one and I know I won't be getting another for a while also I feel I have enough on my plate
 
dont assume all hanging things coming from a boys vet is a sperm plug. it seems that sperm plugs have been quite the popular thing on the forums lately, who knows, maybe all the boys are in heat right now lol. but on a serious note, i would first thing get a fresh fecal test done on him, to all new additions, i believe a fecal test is necessary. call your vet, and see if you could just get a test done without an examination. if parasites are found, the an examination is necessary in order to prescribe the medication. but a hair thick string does not sound like a sperm plug to me, but rather a worm of some sort. could also be a cricket feeler, but im sure the acid in these guys' stomachs would eat it in moments.

let me know if this posts makes sence to you.
 
dont assume all hanging things coming from a boys vet is a sperm plug. it seems that sperm plugs have been quite the popular thing on the forums lately, who knows, maybe all the boys are in heat right now lol. but on a serious note, i would first thing get a fresh fecal test done on him, to all new additions, i believe a fecal test is necessary. call your vet, and see if you could just get a test done without an examination. if parasites are found, the an examination is necessary in order to prescribe the medication. but a hair thick string does not sound like a sperm plug to me, but rather a worm of some sort. could also be a cricket feeler, but im sure the acid in these guys' stomachs would eat it in moments.

let me know if this posts makes sence to you.

Yea total sense. It wasn't black so I believe it not to be feeler. It had a translucent look about it that I don't like. Once he started to stretch out of his poo position the thing retracted so naturally. I would guess a half pooped worm to squirm, this thing didn't even move. He ate like a pig today so I'm guessing monster cham poo tomorrow, I'll check into it more though that's for sure. I have my camera ready in case whatever it maybe pops back out so I can post
 
Well, monster poo came and went, urates were all white which makes me feel good as last ones I saw were pretty orange.

The "worm" came back out again, further this time and stuck around even after Samson started to move. I was half tempted to try to snatch it with a tweezer but I didn't want to mess up his insides at all, also forgot to take a pic. /facepalm.

I also saw some really unusual movement in his vent area, almost like muscle contractions but it seemed to almost rotate around. I'm pretty sure its a parasite of sorts after seeing that. I will be getting a hold of my vet and schedule a fecal exam once their phone is not busy.
 
Could be, I hope it is myself. I went and got an apt. with the vet next Monday just in case it isn't. I suppose it is a good thing for him to get introduced to his vet regardless. :)

I have never heard of a sperm plug prior to my post, even after months of reading here. Is this common? natural? harmless? Does it require attention? perhaps he wants some female chameleon attention? ;)

Does a sperm plug general face forwards or backwards on the cham? This one was trailing Samson.
 
Sperm plugs are kind of off white colored goo. They are usually dried up by the time I see them in my guys cage. Your boy is just hitting puberty. If he had parasites. Then most likely his poo wouldnt be nice and firm. It would be runny and watery looking.
 
Sperm plugs are kind of off white colored goo. They are usually dried up by the time I see them in my guys cage. Your boy is just hitting puberty. If he had parasites. Then most likely his poo wouldnt be nice and firm. It would be runny and watery looking.

Well that's good to know.

I actually had to call up Northwest Chams to ask about a different shipment and then I realized I forgot to ask her about how Samson fecals were the first time I called as I asked her to scan them quick before she sent him on his way. Sandy said they were all good and we talked about what I saw these 2 past mornings. She put me at ease about this situation so I ended up calling the vet back and canceled the appointment. Which I am cool with because they wanted to charge me an initial visit type of fee of 70 bucks that I really wanted to spend on Samson in other ways for now. So I'll just call later on down the road and get him in for a check up.

How often do you guys take your healthy chams to the vet for a check up? Once a year? 2 times or more?
 
i am curious, what Sandra said it could be then? Just wondering if I ever come across something like that. If it it not a parasite then what would it be?
 
She said it was "Smegma" for slang. It isn't a true sperm plug as it is not that kind of reptile. It more or less means he is starting puberty. He is learning control of his dangle and she said that eventually he will learn how to wipe it off in the cage and have his dangle under better control.

That makes sense because I was talking with my roommate who initially saw it with me and he swears he saw a red rocket with that white thing attached but all I saw myself was the white part after he started laughing at Samson over it.
 
ah thanks for the info! That is good to know incase I see something like that haning out of my cham's butt! lol!!! You learn something everyday on here!!!
 
Yeah I was a tad concerned because I spent 3 years in a seafood dept. and saw a lot of parasitic worms on cod loins and such and it looked too similar for my comfort.
 
Yeah I was a tad concerned because I spent 3 years in a seafood dept. and saw a lot of parasitic worms on cod loins and such and it looked too similar for my comfort.

Well, I don't think I'll be eating any cod again! :p

The muscle work silkyslim described is definitely typical of a panther cham working the smegma down to his vent to shed it. The cham will pump and flex his reproductive organs to loosen the smegma and push it down to the vent. He then releases it with a bowel movement or wipes it on a vine. The act of catching it on a vine helps him pull it out better. He will catch it on a vine and then walk away, gently removing it from his internal parts. The little guy will get better at it as he matures. Breeders will often see a cham perform this pumping/wiping maneuver right before breeding with a lady. At least I have. They like to clear the way for the fresh sperm.

Fresh smegma is translucent white. Then it turns yellow. Old smegma often looks yellow and even brownish and takes on a dry crusty look.

We did a fecal exam on him the night before we shipped and it was clean. We have a microscope set up and it is attached to a computer so we get excellent magnified images. We just don't do stained slides or centrifuge. But, if it were an adult worm protuding from Samson we definitely would have seen something in his fecals.

When our first chameleon shed his first smegma 7 years ago I freaked out too. I still have photos of it. I just knew it was a dead parasite.
 
Well, I don't think I'll be eating any cod again! :p

The muscle work silkyslim described is definitely typical of a panther cham working the smegma down to his vent to shed it. The cham will pump and flex his reproductive organs to loosen the smegma and push it down to the vent. He then releases it with a bowel movement or wipes it on a vine. The act of catching it on a vine helps him pull it out better. He will catch it on a vine and then walk away, gently removing it from his internal parts. The little guy will get better at it as he matures. Breeders will often see a cham perform this pumping/wiping maneuver right before breeding with a lady. At least I have. They like to clear the way for the fresh sperm.

Fresh smegma is translucent white. Then it turns yellow. Old smegma often looks yellow and even brownish and takes on a dry crusty look.

We did a fecal exam on him the night before we shipped and it was clean. We have a microscope set up and it is attached to a computer so we get excellent magnified images. We just don't do stained slides or centrifuge. But, if it were an adult worm protuding from Samson we definitely would have seen something in his fecals.

When our first chameleon shed his first smegma 7 years ago I freaked out too. I still have photos of it. I just knew it was a dead parasite.

Yeah!!! Thanks again for putting that info on here. Yeah I was freaked out by my room mate was laughing hard cuz he said his dangle was out too and he was grinding on his branch lol.
 
Well, I don't think I'll be eating any cod again! :p

The muscle work silkyslim described is definitely typical of a panther cham working the smegma down to his vent to shed it. The cham will pump and flex his reproductive organs to loosen the smegma and push it down to the vent. He then releases it with a bowel movement or wipes it on a vine. The act of catching it on a vine helps him pull it out better. He will catch it on a vine and then walk away, gently removing it from his internal parts. The little guy will get better at it as he matures. Breeders will often see a cham perform this pumping/wiping maneuver right before breeding with a lady. At least I have. They like to clear the way for the fresh sperm.

Fresh smegma is translucent white. Then it turns yellow. Old smegma often looks yellow and even brownish and takes on a dry crusty look.

We did a fecal exam on him the night before we shipped and it was clean. We have a microscope set up and it is attached to a computer so we get excellent magnified images. We just don't do stained slides or centrifuge. But, if it were an adult worm protuding from Samson we definitely would have seen something in his fecals.

When our first chameleon shed his first smegma 7 years ago I freaked out too. I still have photos of it. I just knew it was a dead parasite.

I'd like to see those pics!
 
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