Hello everyone,
I've had my gecko, Neo, for about eight years now and have had him since he was a spotless little juvenile. Throughout the years, I've made a careless mistake or two in the care of him due to poor judgment, and the fact that I was just a kid.
Just recently, I've moved for the hundredth time and I ended up getting rid of three of my other Leo's to a local Reptile Shop that I trust would take good care of them and decided to keep Neo. Thursday night (4/23) after school, I stopped by my old residence which is currently up for sale to grab more things and check on him. When I picked him up, I noticed a protruding mass from underneath his tail and my heart immediately dropped. In the past, we had numerous Iguanas, and one in particular would continually prolapse his insides (it wasn't a hemipenis, but I don't know exactly what organ it was). We would constantly pay the vet to repair it, only for it to happen again and again until finally it was irreparable and he has to be put to sleep. Of course, all this flooded my thoughts as I saw this on Neo.
That night, I put him in a smaller cage lined with paper towels and started my research. I called the Reptile shop that I gave the others two and they told me that it was definitely a hemipenis prolapse and that I should put Preparation H on it and it should retract within a few days. So, I would apply it to and around his "area" 3 - 4 times a day through the weekend. Monday (4/27) rolled around and it wasn't getting any better. No worse, but no better. So, I called dozens of different veterinarians and found one that would see him. After looking around on the internet I saw that most people suggested using sugar water to reduce the irritation, so I started that course of treatment and stopped the Prep H. Tuesday (4/28) was his appointment, and to make a long story short they suggested an amputation (which I agreed would be a good idea as I don't plan on breeding him) and put together a "Care Plan" that would cost around $775.
Now, we need to take a break to talk about me for a second. I don't have $775 lying around. I live in California and started supporting myself at a much too early age. Throughout the years I've accumulated debt, I have insurance payments, utilities, rent and dozens of other things that I need to pay in order to maintain meager existence. Then, it brings us to possibly financing the "Care Plan". I cannot justify spending $775 on my Gecko. I know it sounds heartless, but if I didn't care about him I wouldn't be checking on him as frequently as I have been and exhausting myself in research on alternative means.
So, bummed out I brought Neo home. Throughout this whole entire ordeal I have not seen any change in his character. The whole time he's been like he has been these past eight years, didn't seem to me to be in any pain, and looks incredibly healthy. He's a very tough Leo. The veterinarian told me to try putting a sugar water paste-type consistency around the protrusion as it might help more than the watery type bath I had been doing. Feeling cornered, I decided the only course of action I could do would be to keep everything clean, keep him comfortable and if/when he started to go downhill I would have to Euthanize him.
Now, today (4/29) I had lunch with my Dad and we started talking about things. Throughout our conversation he was telling how his Grandfather, who was a veterinarian, would sometimes have to do a hot water/cold water "dip" to "separate" two horses who would get stuck mating.
*LIGHTBULB*
Once I got off work, I grabbed Neo and warmed up some water and let him soak in it. While he was soaking, I massaged the area a bit (this whole while he wasn't jumping as if it hurt, I would never do anything to him if I knew it hurt) and while looking at the hemipenis it looked as though the end was starting to scab. Now, I couldn't tell you if the end of the actual hemipenis was constricted and scabbed, or if it was a discharge that scabbed, but that's my best description of it.
After about a minute or so in the warm water, I picked him up, drained the water, and then filled up some very cold water. Now, for everyone about to freak out and think I'm a moron, I only submerged his lower portion (past his back legs) for about 10-20 seconds. I didn't want his body temp to drop considerably and have him go into shock, what we were doing in theory was warming his tissue causing expansion and then exposed it to a very low temperature causing some "shrinkage". After picking him up and looking at his underside I was amazed. Just like that, nearly a full week later, everything had sucked back up in there and he has both his two little "mounds". As for the "scabbed" part, it had fallen off entirely.
Also, every time I looked at his underside I was checking to make sure it looked as though everything still had blood flow to the tissue, which it did. Nothing looked necrotic, it just looked irritated.
I'm also not just giving up and expecting that it's all fixed. I'm keeping him on the paper toweled bedding and continuing to bath him in warm water but it's all going good so far. I just wanted to share my experience with everyone in case someone runs into a similar situation but can't spend that kind of money on an operation.
I've made plans to deworm him (as I've read that parasites could be a cause to the prolapse, good to just do it anyways) but he is very healthy "looking", great appetite, and drinks water fine, nice fact tail, never lethargic. Can anyone think of any other causes that might have done this that could help me? The veterinarian was saying that it's possible he became "spontaneously aroused", and as he was trekking through the sand the hemipenis could have become irritated and bam.. prolapse. I'd appreciate anyone else's POSITIVE input on the matter.
Another quick note... I am not claiming to have "beaten the vet" or found some preferred method for fixing a hemipene prolapse. If $775 fell into my lap you can be sure that it would, without a doubt, be spent on the suggested treatment for Neo. I just wanted to explain in detail his journey through this (thus far) to try and help anyone in a similar situation.
Thanks again,
James
I've had my gecko, Neo, for about eight years now and have had him since he was a spotless little juvenile. Throughout the years, I've made a careless mistake or two in the care of him due to poor judgment, and the fact that I was just a kid.
Just recently, I've moved for the hundredth time and I ended up getting rid of three of my other Leo's to a local Reptile Shop that I trust would take good care of them and decided to keep Neo. Thursday night (4/23) after school, I stopped by my old residence which is currently up for sale to grab more things and check on him. When I picked him up, I noticed a protruding mass from underneath his tail and my heart immediately dropped. In the past, we had numerous Iguanas, and one in particular would continually prolapse his insides (it wasn't a hemipenis, but I don't know exactly what organ it was). We would constantly pay the vet to repair it, only for it to happen again and again until finally it was irreparable and he has to be put to sleep. Of course, all this flooded my thoughts as I saw this on Neo.
That night, I put him in a smaller cage lined with paper towels and started my research. I called the Reptile shop that I gave the others two and they told me that it was definitely a hemipenis prolapse and that I should put Preparation H on it and it should retract within a few days. So, I would apply it to and around his "area" 3 - 4 times a day through the weekend. Monday (4/27) rolled around and it wasn't getting any better. No worse, but no better. So, I called dozens of different veterinarians and found one that would see him. After looking around on the internet I saw that most people suggested using sugar water to reduce the irritation, so I started that course of treatment and stopped the Prep H. Tuesday (4/28) was his appointment, and to make a long story short they suggested an amputation (which I agreed would be a good idea as I don't plan on breeding him) and put together a "Care Plan" that would cost around $775.
Now, we need to take a break to talk about me for a second. I don't have $775 lying around. I live in California and started supporting myself at a much too early age. Throughout the years I've accumulated debt, I have insurance payments, utilities, rent and dozens of other things that I need to pay in order to maintain meager existence. Then, it brings us to possibly financing the "Care Plan". I cannot justify spending $775 on my Gecko. I know it sounds heartless, but if I didn't care about him I wouldn't be checking on him as frequently as I have been and exhausting myself in research on alternative means.
So, bummed out I brought Neo home. Throughout this whole entire ordeal I have not seen any change in his character. The whole time he's been like he has been these past eight years, didn't seem to me to be in any pain, and looks incredibly healthy. He's a very tough Leo. The veterinarian told me to try putting a sugar water paste-type consistency around the protrusion as it might help more than the watery type bath I had been doing. Feeling cornered, I decided the only course of action I could do would be to keep everything clean, keep him comfortable and if/when he started to go downhill I would have to Euthanize him.
Now, today (4/29) I had lunch with my Dad and we started talking about things. Throughout our conversation he was telling how his Grandfather, who was a veterinarian, would sometimes have to do a hot water/cold water "dip" to "separate" two horses who would get stuck mating.
*LIGHTBULB*
Once I got off work, I grabbed Neo and warmed up some water and let him soak in it. While he was soaking, I massaged the area a bit (this whole while he wasn't jumping as if it hurt, I would never do anything to him if I knew it hurt) and while looking at the hemipenis it looked as though the end was starting to scab. Now, I couldn't tell you if the end of the actual hemipenis was constricted and scabbed, or if it was a discharge that scabbed, but that's my best description of it.
After about a minute or so in the warm water, I picked him up, drained the water, and then filled up some very cold water. Now, for everyone about to freak out and think I'm a moron, I only submerged his lower portion (past his back legs) for about 10-20 seconds. I didn't want his body temp to drop considerably and have him go into shock, what we were doing in theory was warming his tissue causing expansion and then exposed it to a very low temperature causing some "shrinkage". After picking him up and looking at his underside I was amazed. Just like that, nearly a full week later, everything had sucked back up in there and he has both his two little "mounds". As for the "scabbed" part, it had fallen off entirely.
Also, every time I looked at his underside I was checking to make sure it looked as though everything still had blood flow to the tissue, which it did. Nothing looked necrotic, it just looked irritated.
I'm also not just giving up and expecting that it's all fixed. I'm keeping him on the paper toweled bedding and continuing to bath him in warm water but it's all going good so far. I just wanted to share my experience with everyone in case someone runs into a similar situation but can't spend that kind of money on an operation.
I've made plans to deworm him (as I've read that parasites could be a cause to the prolapse, good to just do it anyways) but he is very healthy "looking", great appetite, and drinks water fine, nice fact tail, never lethargic. Can anyone think of any other causes that might have done this that could help me? The veterinarian was saying that it's possible he became "spontaneously aroused", and as he was trekking through the sand the hemipenis could have become irritated and bam.. prolapse. I'd appreciate anyone else's POSITIVE input on the matter.
Another quick note... I am not claiming to have "beaten the vet" or found some preferred method for fixing a hemipene prolapse. If $775 fell into my lap you can be sure that it would, without a doubt, be spent on the suggested treatment for Neo. I just wanted to explain in detail his journey through this (thus far) to try and help anyone in a similar situation.
Thanks again,
James
