Weird Problem.. NEED HELP!

[Quichy]

Hi! I am having a problem with my veiled chameleon (male). I never had any real problems with him until today. I noticed something around his anus that looked like feces which was stuck for some reason.. I took him out and I found that it was actually a part of him some skin that was coming from the inside, and it was covered in blood. I quickly took a tissue and dried the excess blood off. Now I am thinking that it might be a part of his reproductive organs or just something else that is a part of him. I really do not know what to do. Here is a picture of it...

https://www.chameleonforums.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=183&stc=1&d=1145150718

 

[jvillereptile]

it looks like his hemipenis if it don't go back in itself message it with a lubricant until it does

 

[lele]

Hemipenal Prolapse

I have never dealt with this but I do know it is serious. The first thing to do is to keep it moist with soaks and moist towels and/or lubricated with KY jelly or other SAFE ointment. Don't use mineral oil. You will need a vet to invert it. Do you have a good herp vet? I know it is the weekend but see if there is one around. Here is an article about it:
http://www.adcham.com/html/veterinary/vet-hemipenal-pare.html

here is another on iguana, but she says that sugar in the bathing water can help reduce the swelling http://www.anapsid.org/prolapse.html

and here is this forum's link for finding a vet https://www.chameleonforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67

good luck and keep us posted. I hope he is OK

 

[Quichy]

Thank You

After I read all what you guys suggested and the info found on the provided links I decided to give it a try... I put him in the sugar water bath for some time and then with a lubricated glove I pushed it back... the water definitely helped the tissue decrese in inflamation as well as redness... but the pushing back thing still did not work well... For now I lubricated the tissue and put him back for the night.. I will try another attempt tomorrow. I hope the redness will decrease A LOT.. that will help me push it back... we will see... thanks anyway for the tips!

 

[2by2]

I've dealt with this only one time and it was with my Nosy Chia about a year ago. Except with Chia....it was both Hemipenes.
The first thing you want to do is keep it as moist as possible....as much as possible. Baths may not be the best choice, as sitting in a tub of water is not exactly a natural occurance for chameleons. It adds alot of stress in an already extremely stressful situation. It may be good for iguanas and other lizards/snakes, but chams I definately would discourage this practice.
Chia decided he'd have his problem on the weekend as well. I attempted myself to force them back in using a sterile heavily lubricated q-tip and the help of my wife. I got nowhere.....So I had no choice but to wait until monday. What I did in the mean time was use a piece of gause that was as wet as I could get it to wrap the area. Pretty much I custom made a chameleon diaper. Then I used an ace bandage to hold it on. I'm sure if you could figure out a way to keep the outside layer dry (a peice of plastic or something similar) you could also tape it on if need be. Monday came and I took him to the vet. My vet is fairly good with reptiles in general....but when it comes to chams he's not exactly an expert. Not many vets are. Pretty much whenever I go with a problem, I tell him what I think it is....and he either agrees or disagrees and we work together to try and get to the root of the problem. But in the case of prolapses, most herp vets have seen their share of this problem in other reptiles. He knew exactly what to do, and he had me hold chia through the entire proceedure. Slowly, over a period of about 15 minutes he carefully and gently kept applying a little bit of preassure in all the right places and they ended up going back in......and staying in for good.
I could tell in the next couple of days he kind of favored the area...and it didn't look exactlly normal, but after about a week there was no sign that he had ever had a problem. I had to take him out of my breeding program for a while just to be safe, but since then he's bred to another female.....and her eggs appear to be quite healthy and on the way to a high hatch rate.

Hope this helps.....and good luck with him.

 

[lele]

Baths may not be the best choice, as sitting in a tub of water is not exactly a natural occurance for chameleons. It adds alot of stress in an already extremely stressful situation. It may be good for iguanas and other lizards/snakes, but chams I definately would discourage this practice.

good point about the cham not sitting in a bath. That section was on Melissa Kaplan's Iguana care (thought the sugar part was interesting and apparently it worked for Quichy). I hope my little guy never has to deal with it. I can't imagine having part of my inside outisde my body

lele

 

[2by2]

I've heard of sugar water being a good anti inflamatory as well. Although I've never tried it myself. Maybe the "cham diaper" could be soaked in sugar water before being wraped onto the cham. That might just be the best of both worlds.