sperm plug?

[Justinschramm05]

anyone have any info on sperm plugs???? what to do if your cham. has one??

 

[ChromaChameleons]

All healthy male chams get them and all healthy chams discard them without assistance.

 

[Justinschramm05]

how do i know if he can't discard it? does it get bigger? How long does it take to discard??

 

[Fidel]

I have removed them before on my cham when they were pretty big(1/2-3/4") and had been there for a few days. I put my cham on a towel and held him down and pulled gently towrds his head and they come right out.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

how do i know if he can't discard it? does it get bigger? How long does it take to discard??

This looks exactly like the sperm plug (smegma) our male chams have expelled. Often it first shows as a tiny white substance barely extruding from the vent. It is a harmless reproductive byproduct. He will likely pass it with his next stool. First will come the urates, then the stool, then the sperm plug will hang from the vent looking like a long nasty worm. The cham will wipe it off on a branch. As Fidel said, you can pull it out, if it bothers you. But it is likely not bothering your cham one bit. Guido has passed a few that were several inches long. They seem to develop up each side of his reproductive area, and so sometimes seem to be in 2 pieces, joined at the center.

When Guido reached sexual maturity and began passing these I thought they were parasites, and couldn't understant why the panacur treatments the vet prescribed weren't working. FInally, when I produced a photo, and took a sample to the vet, the nice people on this forum, and at the vets office, let me know the real deal. I was SO very releaved. But first I had to ask- What on earth is "smegma"? I googled it, and viola, I am now smegma-educated.

 

[kinyonga]

See my post to your thread under "general discussion".

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

In the link Kinyonga directed you to, it shows that sperm plugs can cause serious problems if not removed. I was not aware of this. It's good to know.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Plugs.......

Took me a couple of minutes to find that Kinyonga's great link so I'll paste it here too:

http://www.chamaeleonidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4472&sid=09da59114fa474587bbee2ef4f250fac

The really great pictures were furnished by Dave Weldon of this group. Scroll down to see the picture of the very well developed plugs that needed to be removed. Before they get to this more extreme stage you may not be able to see them on the outside of the vent. You will be able to feel them though. If you feel the tail bulge on either side of the vent it should feel smooth, even and pliable. If you feel something that feels hard and irregular on either side it is a plug. If your male has this and it does not come out on its own, it needs to be removed in order to prevent an infection.

If you can get the male to evert his hemipenes you can carefully and slowly pull the plug out by the hardened top of it. You have to make sure whatever you are pulling on is actually the plug and not organ tissue. Tweezers can help you get a grip on the right thing. If you don't feel comfortable doing this you can have your vet do it. The important thing is do this carefully and do it very slowly. If you pull fast it may break off mid-section which makes it harder to remove. Have fun......

 

[Vegas Chad]

Every time this comes up I can not help but think how that must feel to the cham getting one pulled out... It has to be 1 of 2 things... 1- OMG WHEW, MMMMUCH BETTER... awwww Or 2- HOLY #$(^(@ OUCH IM GOING TO KICK UR A$$ #$%( #%($

Hmmmmm

 

[BIGGUN]

Or, Ooohhh ya baby!.......just like that....mmmmmm........... slower,slower,...........faster,FASTER!!!!!! YYEESSSSS!!!!


sorry

But you never know.

Kevin

 

[Dankmeleon]

today at the show there was a jackson with a sperm plug in his horns, it was pretty funny, i actually chuckled a little bit outloud after i figured out it wasn't some infected protrusion