Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone,

Well, the excitement of proving out my poss. het female as a 100% het albino kind of faded a bit this past week as I discovered that one of the babies prolapsed his hemipeni (both of them). I've never had to deal with this in any of my adult males, so I have no idea what to do at this point. I've tried spraying him down near his cloaca with cool water, hoping this would things contract back inside. But I'm afraid I'm doing more harm than good at this point by messing with him so much. I'm getting more worried at this point since it's been a couple of days since I first noticed the problem.

To make matters a bit more concerning, this baby still hasn't shed (it's been 13 days since DOB) and he was the "runt" of the litter who I suspect was the very smaller baby of the pair of twins which were possibly born in the litter.

If anyone can help and give me some advice, please do so.

Thanks in advance for any help you all can offer.

Jay

Make a sugar paste and spread it over the proplapse. That will help with any swelling and keep it from drying out. In the meantime get the thing to a vet and have it re-inserted. If it prolapses again, use the paste but realize that you may have to get it sutured to make it stay in place for a few weeks while everything tries to heal. Sometimes they pop out, swell a bit, and they aren't able to be drawn back up normally. If the Penes dry out, they may have to be removed. It all depends on severity and what your vet recommends.

I've also heard of some (VERY WELL TRAINED and/or EXPERIENCED) keepers using a needle and syringe to draw the blood out to help reduce the swelling. I would NOT recommend trying this yourself and I have no direct experience with it. I've just read that others have tried it.

Try the sugar method if you feel comfortable with it. Whether you do or don't, get it to the vet.
jb
-----
Jonathan Brady
*You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.*

Chris Gilbert sent this to me in an email regarding this subject:

I had a male like that in my CR litter, kinked tail caused it. Info from Mike Weitzman was to try sugar water/paste. I've read for GTPs to use brown sugar.

While that prevented swelling in my guy, it did not retract, and the tips did dry.

I did not give up on him though and tied off both hemipenes with dental floss. Knowing that with the kink he should NEVER be bred, there was nothing to lose here. He shed before the amputation was complete and has eaten 3 meals and defecated 3 times since then.
-----
Jonathan Brady
*You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.*

n/p

I know of no solution to the baby male that does that. Normally, the entire area becomes swollen as well. I have never been able to get them to go back in. In my opinion, this is one of those rare instances where I agree with that noted novelist who wrote about "the survival of the fittest". Not what you were hoping to hear I'm sure. But then, perhaps somebody else does have some advice.
-----
Boaphile Home
All Original/Boaphile Plastics
The Boa Network

Thanks for the input, Jeff. Yeah, I haven't had quite as many litters as you, but I've had enough to realize that not all baby boas are necessarily meant to make it. Hopefully, someone can offer some advice as to what can help.

Thanks,

Jay

Preparation H.............

Interesting...A buddy of mine just called me recommending the same thing. He mentioned it worked on a prolapse for a different herp. I might just give it a try.

Thanks.

Perfectly healthy animals don't prolapse. Parasites, anatomical problems, various disease processes, constipation, etc can cause prolapses. Often you can get them back in with sugar paste (hypertonic solution on the outside draws fluid out of tissue so you can push it back in), but they often reoccur. Sometimes a surgical procedure is needed to keep this from reoccurring if it is an anatomical issue.

I've seen a few Neos that seem to not be able to control their junk all that well. Usually a week or two after birth they seem to get things under control on their own. Same reason why it is so easy to pop them right after they've come out of the shute. The only problem is the organs swell if exposed for too long. Intestinal prolapse is something completely different.

As Eric stated make a very thick sugar/water paste and lather it up on there. Sometimes this will cause the prolapse to retract. I use this method for my baby Green Tree Pythons which have a common tendency to prolapse during their first few defecations.

But most importantly get the snake to your vet to get checked out.

Jared Horenstein
-----
~ ASK ME ABOUT MY BALLS ~

Simple honey is much easier.

>>As Eric stated make a very thick sugar/water paste and lather it up on there. Sometimes this will cause the prolapse to retract. I use this method for my baby Green Tree Pythons which have a common tendency to prolapse during their first few defecations.
>>
>>But most importantly get the snake to your vet to get checked out.
>>
>>
>>Jared Horenstein
>>-----
>>~ ASK ME ABOUT MY BALLS ~