Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So after I fed my guy today I went in his room to check-up on him see if he ate all his crix which he did, but he had a bulge comming out of his vent-as ive never seen this befor I was very worried, anyone know what this is? It went right back inside when I started looking at him, He seems in good health eats like a pig(everday about 10-12 crix) temps are 100 in the basking, 76-80 during the day, around 75 down to 65 at night, humidity is about 40% daily with 2-3 mistings which brings it up to 60% for awhile. I dust his crickets with calcium about two times a week. he gets vit. 1-2 times a month. He also has proper UV lighting repti5.0 so im just wondering if i should get a stool sample or if anynes seen this befor...thanks for your replys sorry about the long post, worried owner syndrome.

This site shows a hemipene prolapse...
http://adcham.com/html/veterinary/vet-hemipenal-pare.html

This shows an intestinal prolapse...
http://www.chameleonforums.com/unknown-situation-1927/

Its good that it went back in...but if it should happen again and not go back in, the area needs to be kept moist until the chameleon can get to the vets. If there is a prolapse, its a true emergency and needs to be dealt with ASAP.

Sometimes chameleons evert their hemipene when defecating....it should go back in if there is nothing wrong. If either a hemipene or an intestinal prolapse occurs (doesn't retract| its necessary (not only to have it treated but) to find out why it happened and correct whatever is wrong.

A stool sample wouldn't be a bad idea....it can sometimes be caused by parasites.

I've noticed that my male chams are more likely to evert a hemipene if they are "straining" when defecating...often a subtle sign of constipation or low level dehydration. Check the urate portion of his feces. If the urates are orange or have a gradation of color from orange to brown it is also a sign that his digestion is slowing down trying to reclaim water from the GI tract.

I think you nailed the problem, his stool has had tiny hints of orange in it...how can I stop this? i spray him 2-3 times a day. Ive seen him drink befor, sometimes he doesent, is there any way I can get him to drink more water?? Should I spray him longer? I spray like 2-5 mins at a time.

hey,i'm not a pro like carlton is,hahaha,but something i'd suggest you do is just to spray your cham's tip of his mouth and water will build up into water drops(try to just get the tip and not his nose/eyes too much or none at all if possible,takes awhile to get good at it i guess)..then all you need to do is sit back and wait for him to drink,then when he drinks,get more water on the corner or very front of his mouth and just watch him drink..my cham drinks alot,and i make sure he does by giving him water that way..and as carlton once told me,he'll tell you when he's had enough when he tilts his head up into the air and starts to really swallow all the water he has in his mouth..try my method out and see how it goes,you could also use a plastic syringe and just drip some onto the front of his mouth..hope this helps,providing water for a cham can definitly be a difficult task,just need to find the right method for your cham..
-----
Jonny Blaze
1.0 Nosy Be Panther
s136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/jonnyblaze_04/?sc=3

Part of the whole hydration thing is to slow down the amount of water he loses BETWEEN your spraying. If the cage air is dry, the cham can lose quite a bit of body moisture just breathing. Reptiles from tropical areas don't have the complex nasal passages that reclaim water vapor from respiration that desert herps do, so they are inefficient at conserving body moisture. They lose a little through their skin, but not all that much (spraying their skin won't really help much). Do you notice any white build up around his nostrils? It may not be a lot, but chams excrete salts through respiration and they can get deposited around them. This is also a sign that the cage air is dry. How do you measure the relative humidity? The cage may be getting much drier between misting than you realize. First, measure the cage humidity with a good quality humidity gauge (not the little stick on ones from the local pet shop...they are terrible). If you find that the cage humidity drops soon after your spraying is done, a humidifier running on a multiple setting timer could really help a lot.

He doesent have any white build-up around his nostrils that ive noticed, I have a digital humidity gage with a probe. I do live in the desert in Las Vegas, I run a steam humidifier pretty much all day but not at night, humidity during the day is around 40-45% when I spray it goes up to about high 50's, the only reason I turn the humidifier off at night is because it raises tempature too (since chams like the temp drop at night) that drops the humidity down to about 30% at night sometimes a bit lower. he has his own room and its small 10' by 10' maybe smaller, should I get a diffrent humidifier? Put it on a timer? I would really like to solve this. Thank you for your replies.

Cycling the humidifier on a timer would help. You wouldn't have the run it all the time, but can provide some wetter and drier cycles. Is the steam humidifier one that heats the water? If so, that limits its use for chams. You don't want it too close to the cage, and it will keep the room too warm at night. An ultrasonic type room humidifier won't heat the mist much (it is about room temp). To figure out how often and how long it will need to run, set it up right next to the cage and run it until the most humid area of the cage reaches 70% or so. Shut it off and time how long it takes that same area to get TOO dry again (below 40%). This tells you how long to set the timer for, and gives you an idea how many cycles you may need to maintain a better range.It is always going to be an issue for him because of where you live.