Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The male has had his hemi out now for ten minutes after they had copulated. Is this normal should I be worried what to do if it persists?

thanks in advance
joey

it's not good that he has left it out for so long. this can happen for several reasons, either underdeveloped muscles or something has caused the organ to swell up more than normal. what you can do is give him a soak in luke warm sugar water, which should help with teh swelling and the hemipenis should retract on it's own. if it doesn't after soaking for awhile, you may have to take the skink to a vet to properly reinsert the hemipenis.

i would advise not breeding the male again this year. you can try again next breeding season and see if the same thing happens. if it does, may need to have a vet look into it further. sometimes they will stitch the vent partially closed to make it harder for a prolapse to happen again and to give more time for the muscles to heal.
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PHLdyPayne

thanks for the reply. When I was done writing the post I went back in his room and it was completely back in. 10 minutes might of been a little long of an estimate, I was very excited. What is a normal wait time for it to go back in. I have tried the last two years and she was not willing at all. this year, this was the first introduction and she was in his cage a total of 15 minutes or less and they mated. I don't want risk anything with his hemi staying out to long but I do want to keep introducing them.This is probably a judgement call, I might have been over reacting, but I want to make sure what he did was in the parameters of normal. I have read that it may remain everted for a couple of minutes after copulation is that correct? Or should it return to a normal state immediately? Also it should be taken in to account that this is the first time mating and he is five years old.May he have been in a little shock or maybe the muscle is just not used to what happened.

let me know what you think. Did I over react or should I hold off all together or just a few days.

let me know your advice and experince with this occurence.

Thank you very much
Joey

the fact it did go in on it's own is good. i am no expert on blue tongue matings..but if you did overestimate the time it was out, i think it would be safe to reintroduce them again. just keep an eye on things to make sure he keeps bringing it back in after a few minutes or so. also, might be good to use papertowel or similar, so there isn't risk of wood chips or other stuff sticking to the hemipenies which could cause irritation if drawn back into the vent.

careful observation and using the warm sugar water soak if necessary, should ensure you can continue allowing the male to mate.
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PHLdyPayne

I did reintroduce them the following day and prayed That I wouldn't be going to the vet. this time I timed everything. The funny thing is it seemed like it took twice as long for them to "get it on" and they were finished in twelve minutes. the males hemi was back in in less than 2 minutes. everything went smoothly.

I will try and get some pics of the action but I can't make any garantees!

I will keep posting to let you know how everything is going.
thanks
Joey

sounds like he is starting to get the hang of it. the first time he may have been too excited to put it away right away, or just a fluke. keep a close eye on everything to make sure nothing goes wrong. i have heard blue tongues can be difficult to breed, if both partners are not really into it. so far it sounds like you are doing everything right.
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PHLdyPayne