Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Another catastrophe this morning. Popcorn blew his right hemipene last night! I ran him in to the UW Veterinary teaching hospital where I took him last time, and begged them to try to save it. Last time, 12/20/03, they could not get his left hemipene to retract, and they ended up amputating so I'm praying for a better outcome this time or my poor boy will live out the rest of his life as a eunuch!!!! I'm starting to wonder if this could be a possible result of winter breeding???? I did soak it in sugar water for the time it took me to get ready for work this morning, and there was no change. I told the doctor I had done that, and he said the sugar water shrinks the membranes which is why it works sometimes. I'm waiting for a call soon on whether they were able to make it go back in. They found nothing in their textbooks or telephone resources to indicate that this could be a genetic weakness; do any of you know if it is? They thought that the fact that his left hemipene was gone might have had something to do with this not retracting this time. Wish us luck (me & Popcorn)!

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Terri
4:8:7 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni(y), Kermit, ChiliPepper, Spot, WildFire, WildSpatter & Randy(i)

sounds like he was always willing to get the job done...
anyways, good luck and you'll have to let us know how it goes.

Thanks for your concern! They just called from the vet school. They got it to stay in on their second try, and put a few sutures in to hold it until it heals. No guarantees, but so far it's looking good. She said to keep him from the ladies for a month, and I said from now on I'm going to ration him out like some rare 100-year-old Scotch whiskey!! Robbie Hamper returned an email and said I might've tried soaking it in a highly concentrated sugar-water solution for longer than I did, maybe 2 days, changing the sugar water after a day for fresh so it wouldn't ferment! Something to keep in mind if, God forbid, it should happen again! Still not out of the woods, so wish us luck!

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Terri
4:8:7 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni(y), Kermit, ChiliPepper, Spot, WildFire, WildSpatter & Randy(i)

Picture of Popcorn I just posted was taken by Shawn McvVay of stickyfeetexotics, which is who he came from. Yes, he always did a good job and definitely made some screamer babies!
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Terri
4:8:7 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni(y), Kermit, ChiliPepper, Spot, WildFire, WildSpatter & Randy(i)

hopefully he'll get better, great coloration on him.