Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I was looking at my sub adult male vield chameleon today and I saw something sticking out of his vent (butt)whatever you want to call it, It was tan colored but all shrivvled up and I didnt want to touch it, He seems to be restless. Please help me. My set up is this.

Lighting: Powersun UV 100 watt bulb. Basking sight 95-100 and has a perfect temp gradient.

Enclosure is 5feetH/18inchW/2feetL. it is furnished with clibing sticks, huge potho's plants and the has plenty of areas to hide.

He eats full size crickets, I know the no bigger then head width rule, that are gutloaded with all sorts of veggies, collard greens, carrots... He also eats silkies.

I mist him twice a day and also run a dripper twice a day.

Sorry if i forgot anything, but please help me

Its hard to say without a picture...but besides feces (which
shouldn't really ever be found hanging out of his vent) there are
several possibilities.

Male chameleons can get hemipene plugs. The are solid pieces of
semen or excretions that go along with semen. A vet can remove it
for you. Any of these that I have seen in pictures are about an
inch long and quite thin and shrivelled looking.

It could also be a prolapse. In males, there are hemipene
prolapses and intestinal prolapses.

Hemipene prolapses in veiled chameleons should be reddish
when they first happen...but if the hemipene remains outside
of the body too long it can turn dark (die/become necrotic).
If it dies, the hemipene can be amputated. If the chameleon is
taken to a vet before this happens, the vet can put the hemipene
back inside and put a purse-string stitch in the vent opening to
keep it in place for a while.

It could also be an intestinal prolapse which looks a bit like a
piece of sausage hanging outside his vent when it first happens.
Again...if the intestine remains outside of the body for too long
it will turn dark and die. If the chameleon is taken to a vet
before the intestinal prolapse turns dark, it can be put back...
just like the hemipene one can. If it dies...well...its not good.

With prolapses, its important to keep the "material" that
is hanging outside the vent moist. (Its not recommended to use
vaseline or an ointment that is intended to heal things. Its
always been recommended to me to use K-Y jelly or water.) The
chameleon should be taken to the vet's ASAP.

Aside from the above things, I don't know what it could be.

Can you post a picture of it?

I believe it is all allright about 2 hours after I posted the thing actually came out, I think it was a hemipene plug. It was white, a little over a inch long and very thin. He is eating like a champ as usual so I believe he is now fine, he has pooped since, and it didnt look unusual at all. Thanks for the help...

Glad to hear that it was the easiest of the three things to deal
with!