Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So about a week ago My Male Crested Prolapsed one of his hemipenes so i took him to a Reptile vet. They used 2 stitches for 3 days and took one of them off because he couldn't pass stool. After taking off 1 of the stitches he was fine for about 8 hours when he re-prolapsed =(. Im 21 and a college student and i looked into amputation cost's and it is just wayyy to much money that i dont have... He initially prolapsed partly because of my fault cause there was a female across the dresser from him =( But i didn't know this was going to happen.... he has been put in another room since the prolapse happened.
Anyway im way bummed out cause he was my first crested and he's wayyy chill.
So my question is.. I have to take him in tomorrow to remove the other stitch so should i keep him even though his hemipenis is prolapsed and try soaking him in sugar water everyday and keep it moist to see if it will eventually go in.. OR... do i just put the poor little guy down.... I just want to do everything within my power to get this guy better...

Please help.

Soaking in sugar water is only to help reduce swelling to see if the prolapse will go in itself...if it doesn't within a very short period of time..like 20-30min, then you need to take it to a vet.

Prolapsing rarely is caused just because the gecko is excited at smelling/seeing a receptive female, often it can be due to constipation, parasites, weakness of muscles or other issues. I suggest you find a better qualified vet or insist your current vet do a full examination of your gecko, including fecals (bring recent poop sample for this) and x-ray to determine the cause of the prolapse. If he seems clueless on how to treat advise him to contact a more experienced reptile vet.
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PHLdyPayne

Well What ended up happening is that we ended up amputating his hemipenis. He recovered from surgery very well and fast.... Although he did not eat last night, he was out and active.
I was given some anti biotics that i will give him orally for 10 days to prevent infection. I also bought a liquid calcium suppliment just in case his calcium gets low from not eating...
Im hoping he eats his CGD tonight.. otherwise ill be worried because he stopped eating regularly when he prolapsed.

As far as parasites and stuff like that.. i will get that checked out in a few weeks. What are the signs of a crested having parasites? Also, What would cause muscle weakness?
Any advice would help!

Thank you.

Internal parasites can cause constipation or runny stool, depending on how bad of an infestation it is. A common sign is the poo is far more smelly than usual.

Other signs could be lack of growth despite healthy eating as the parasites will absorb alot of nutrients before the gecko can use them.

With your gecko just finished having surgery, I suggest keeping him in a very sterile environment. Not sure what your usual set up is, but set him up in a cage with a few fake plants and a branch or pole (pvc pipe works well) with papertowel for substrate. Keep a shadow dish with fresh water in the cage and mist in the early evening to keep humidity up and provide water droplets for the gecko to drink, if he doesn't drink from the water dish.
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PHLdyPayne

Well Hmm that makes me wonder cause I soaked him today in luke warm water to stimulate bowel movement and hunger and he did have a runny stool!! But not sure if its just from the antibiotics.
As far as his setup yes i set him up in a freshly cleaned cage w/ washed fake plants and i mist 3 times a day cause it gets dry quickly since i am using Repti Carpet stuff as substrate.

As far as him producing stool today.. Does that mean that he is not constipated? it was only a small drop.. I also found a semi soft stool in his cage last night.. not smelly tho...

THanks for the advice!! BTW the surgery was not expensive at all.. They really worked w. me... Just so people know.. an amputation for me was only 120$... The reason why im letting you know is cause when i tried looking it up.. i couldn't find it anywhere!

as he is on antibiotics it would be a good idea to give him some probiotics too, to help prevent good gut flora being killed off by the antibiotics, A good one to use for reptiles is Achiliphis..or something like that. Adding a little to his CGD will help.
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PHLdyPayne

The way to tell if you have internal parasites is to test the stool. There are many reasons that the stool can different than normal. Knowing normal for abnormal stool can be a great key to telling if something might be starting to go wrong in the first place. What was already alluded to above, if you need to know why this happened to your gecko you will need to have you vet run a battery of test which can get up there in cost. best of luck to the two of you.

Tom