Hey everyone, I know you guys aren’t vets or anything but I was wondering if anyone could give me any info on what this is? I’ve had my mangrove monitor for a little over a month and a half and I’ve been slowly taming him down, this week has been the first week I’ve been able to pick him up and handle him with no problems. Today I noticed this on him and I believe it could be a prolapsed hemipene, and before I cause him a ton of stress and have to start over at square one with taming him by bringing him to the vet I wanted to see if anyone else knew what this was or possible ways to treat it. He is still eating, basking, and playing around in his water bowl, but I’m not sure if he’s pooped recently cause I haven’t seen it laying in the dirt. The photos aren’t the best cause I was trying to do it one handed, but I’ll try to take more.
It looks like it. I’d recommend a sugar bath to get all of the residue off and then moving him into a sterile enclosure (paper towel substrate and no rough or sharp hides/decorations). Take him to a herp specialized vet immediately.
Ironically, I am a vet, but not a reptile vet. I agree with @erie-herps prolapses are best dealt with early on and all hands on deck. You don’t want the issue to become chronic. While you are awaiting your vet appointment, keep the paper towel substrate just a teeny bit damp. You do not want the tissue to dry & become necrotic.
Based off a personal experience try to observe if you see any of his toes twitching. I had a gold tegu at one point where even though she was supplemented calcium three times a week she had a couple prolapses caused by calcium deficiency. One of the signs is toes twitching from poor nerve function from the deficiency, which leads to prolapses from the poor nerve function. Just thought I’d put that out there as a potential cause.
Alright I just emailed my vet to make an appointment because they are closed, so hopefully they get back to me in the morning.
Interesting I’ve never heard of that happening. I do give him calcium when I feed him, but i haven’t seen any toes twitching.
Ok I’ll switch him to an enclosure with just damp paper towel right now.