my cham needs help!!

t white

New Member
I recently found out that my Cham is a boy. Well his penis came out yesterday for the 2nd time, but this time it got stuck, and it looks like the end has a scab on the tip. is this normal? Also i have called several vets and they won't tell me anything except to bring him in and i really don't have the money to do that right now. could someone help please?? By the way it came out when he was sittting in warm water. If that has anything to do with it. He is a senegal Cham
 
Have you tried soaking him in warm water again? I'd try to keep the area moist by applying some vaseline.
 
It sounds like it may be a seminal plug. Can you post a picture? What type of chameleon do you have? It is usually caused by semen encrusting in the vent, forming a plug. By putting him in warm water, you probably got it to loosen up. I have seen an article that stated that low vitamin A has something to do with it. If it is a plug, it is possible that that is the scab you are seeing on the end.

Heika
 
t. white,

Hi...I am no expert on this subject, but have had a couple scares with a couple of transient episodes of hemipenal prolapses with my male panther. Luckily, the problem spontaneously corrected itself but I was in near panic. Anyway, the second episode lasted a little over 2 hours and I tried soaking him in a shallow bath of sugar water (high osmolarity of the water may help reduce the swelling and allow for spontaneous retraction)...don't know if this really did anything as it retracted later by itself...I did attempt to manually reduce it but it was too much tissue and would not budge...

If the tissue is purplish/reddish black then this is most likely a prolapsed hemipenis (could also be a prolapsed intestine I suppose...) and see below. While I must admit I do not know much about seminal plugs...I believe these are whitish/yellowish and "stringy" looking.

However, the fact that your chams problem started last night and that you mention seeing a "scab" is very worrisome. The scab sounds like the tissue may becoming necrosed/dying (blood supply can get cut-off) which can be devastating. I don't wish to scare you but this condition can/will lead to infection...sepsis (systemic infection)...and death unless surgical treatment is not performed. Therefore, I would wrap the prolapsed tissue with a wet water (or saline)/sucrose gauze and take him to the vet ASAP!

I would say if it is dark tissue then take it to the vet ASAP...and don't worry about posting pictures...
 
nosferatu said:
t. white,

Hi...I am no expert on this subject, but have had a couple scares with a couple of transient episodes of hemipenal prolapses with my male panther. Luckily, the problem spontaneously corrected itself but I was in near panic. Anyway, the second episode lasted a little over 2 hours and I tried soaking him in a shallow bath of sugar water (high osmolarity of the water may help reduce the swelling and allow for spontaneous retraction)...don't know if this really did anything as it retracted later by itself...I did attempt to manually reduce it but it was too much tissue and would not budge...

If the tissue is purplish/reddish black then this is most likely a prolapsed hemipenis (could also be a prolapsed intestine I suppose...) and see below. While I must admit I do not know much about seminal plugs...I believe these are whitish/yellowish and "stringy" looking.

However, the fact that your chams problem started last night and that you mention seeing a "scab" is very worrisome. The scab sounds like the tissue may becoming necrosed/dying (blood supply can get cut-off) which can be devastating. I don't wish to scare you but this condition can/will lead to infection...sepsis (systemic infection)...and death unless surgical treatment is not performed. Therefore, I would wrap the prolapsed tissue with a wet water (or saline)/sucrose gauze and take him to the vet ASAP!

I would say if it is dark tissue then take it to the vet ASAP...and don't worry about posting pictures...
Very good post - I couldn't agree more with the advice given. A vet is urgent if it is a prolapsed hemipenis.
 
:( well, sorry it took so long, anyways to him to the vet,that night and he had surgery his penis had to get amputated. well he came home and was doing fine. Then yesterday just yesterday i woke up and he was a very dark almost black color then he cleared up a little, i then noticed he turned back to the medium green color he always was but with big splatters of pale yellow and his spine looked like black was spray painted on it. so i took him to the emergency vet who did the surgery and he could'nt find one thing wrong with him. And so they kept him all night to watch him and they had him in an incubator and he died at 7am this morning.
 
Sorry

That is a sad story, sorry for your loss. Thanks for giving us the heads up and signs and observations you saw. Sorry again.
 
t white,

I am very sorry for your loss...you got him the proper care he needed...probably the stress of the surgery was just too overwhelming
 
Awww sorry to hear he died. You did your best for him by taking him to see a vet, no-one could have done more. Sorry that there isn't a happy ending here:(
 
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