uggg prolapse, any advice?

[MALTReptiles]

So, we woke up this morning and turned on our male's lights. A few hours later, came in to find his hemi-penis prolapsed. He's never been with a female. We've soaked in warm sugar water, and used vaseline and anti-biotic ointment on it. When I take him to the vet on Monday(if it doesn't go in by tomorrow which I doubt it will), what will they be able to do other than surgury? We're keeping it moist and keeping his light off for now so he doesn't move around and rub it on the vines. It looks very strange, like it's full of clear fluid. I'm a little curious what could have caused this.

He's a Nosy Mitsio, approx. 3.5 years old
In a large screen cage
Drip system for water
No live plants, just bendi-vines and plastic plants (he's had them for years now)
Mist 2-3 times a day
Fed 4 calcium coated crickets every other day
Fed 4 multi-vitamin covered supers on the off days of crickets
Heat lamp (98 F hot spot, 73F cool areas)
UVB rating 12 repti-sun
handled rarely
never bred, don't have any other chameleons

Thanks,
Mallorie

 

[ciafardo 4]

I would just keep k-y jelly on it till you can get to the vet i dont think vaseline is a good idea

 

[Dean Pulcini]

The only thing you can do is push it back in and stitch it up. This happened to my chameleon (mitsio) when I removed the stitches two days later it fell out again. Sorry to say the prognosis is not very good for this kind of injury but definitely take him to a vet.

Dean

 

[MALTReptiles]

I would just keep k-y jelly on it till you can get to the vet i dont think vaseline is a good idea

I'm sorry, it wasn't vaseline. We were told to try Preperation H. So that's what we used to try and get some of the swelling down. It looks almost like both are twisted around each other. They deffinately don't look normal.

 

[kinyonga]

http://adcham.com/html/veterinary/vet-hemipenal-pare.html
"When reducing (replacing) a prolapse, the use of anesthesia SHOULD be encouraged as this is undoubtedly a painful procedure. Failure of a chameleon to react to a procedure does not mean it is not painful. Anesthesia is justified on simple humane grounds."

"You need to be careful in putting medication in the cloaca (or hemipenal sacs) as it may be absorbed systemically. I know of at least two fungal infections of the hemipenal sacs that may cause complications. If trauma to the hemipenes or to one hemipenis was severe or extensive, or if tissues were torn when attempting reduction, a short course of systemic antibiotics also may be indicated."

What is normally used is not just table sugar in water, but sucrose.

If the hemipene re-prolapses then it can often be surgically removed as long as the chameleon is still in good enough condition.

 

[MALTReptiles]

Thanks for the reply.

Btw table Sugar and sucrose are the same thing.

 

[kinyonga]

I was told that the gritty texture of table sugar stirred into water is irritating to the prolapsed tissue and it needs to be liquid sucrose that is used so that there is no irritation. I should have been clearer.

 

[MALTReptiles]

Yeah, if there is more sugar than water, it won't dissolve and it will be irritating. If you mix sugar with water and have a little more water than sugar, it should dissolve and not be gritty. The liquid sucrose is probably best but we didn't have that at the time and we needed to soak him.

Hopefully he'll be ok. Matt's taking him to the vet tomorrow. Hopefully the vet is knowledgable enough to even know what a hemi-penis is.

 

[chambabysitter1]

Yeah, if there is more sugar than water, it won't dissolve and it will be irritating. If you mix sugar with water and have a little more water than sugar, it should dissolve and not be gritty. The liquid sucrose is probably best but we didn't have that at the time and we needed to soak him.

Hopefully he'll be ok. Matt's taking him to the vet tomorrow. Hopefully the vet is knowledgable enough to even know what a hemi-penis is.

You are in florida, there are many experienced reptile vets as long as you take the time to do research. Probably one that would have taken you yesterday or today as well.

 

[Dunnigan]

I dont know where in florida you are, but this guy is in Orlando.

http://www.kirkmanareavet.com/index.html

Dr. Alfonso is one of the better chameleon vets in the area. Check it out

 

[MALTReptiles]

We took him yesterday to a vet who works on reptiles in our area. Well, I had a hunch it was an anal prolapse after I felt his hemipenis were still in him. And I was right. It was an anal prolapse. She said it looked awesome and the tissue was still very live. She used a local anastetic and cleaned it off. She said it slid right back and she made a small stitch so it would stay in place but so he could still poop. Also gave us some medicine if he looked like he was in pain or if it started to swell.

 

[chambabysitter1]

Good luck to you and your chameleon. I really hope everything works out.

 

[panthercrazy]

We took him yesterday to a vet who works on reptiles in our area. Well, I had a hunch it was an anal prolapse after I felt his hemipenis were still in him. And I was right. It was an anal prolapse. She said it looked awesome and the tissue was still very live. She used a local anastetic and cleaned it off. She said it slid right back and she made a small stitch so it would stay in place but so he could still poop. Also gave us some medicine if he looked like he was in pain or if it started to swell.

Good luck on a speedy recovery. I would suggest limiting his food intake for a little while to ensure smaller movements and less chance of it happening again.

 

[MALTReptiles]

unfortunately, we lost him a few days after we took him to the vet. I'm thinking he was so stressed, he just couldn't take it all.

 

[TreelionsUK]

Sorry for your loss this is not nice

I lost the most amazing ambilobe like this aswell,he used to go on little hunger strikes and this time supers were all he would take.
i was feeding him too many of them, 4-5 a sitting,its the chittin content of them and if not properly digested they can do so much damage on the way out.
When Adult Panthers get old,they need more time to get to there preferred optimum temperature,to digest them properly
They can also forget to drink when they get old