PLEASE HELP!! (ASAP)

[MSMD]

So, I went in to feed/check on the leos tonight. All seemed fine until I got to the last cage. There were little smears of blood on the paper toweling. I examined both geckos (this is the only cage right now with more than 1 inhabitant). There is a breeding pair in there that starting breeding a couple of days ago. They seemed to be getting along great. They mated within 5 minutes of being put together and there seemed to be no bullying. Anyway, it seems the male has a prolapsed hemipene and it is swollen and bloody. Not sure if he was bitten or if the female just pulled away too fast?? The female seems just fine. There is no indication of any fighting.

The on-call vet was hardly any help at all and does not treat reptiles. He basically told me to sit tight until my vet is in in the morning as long as he's not appearing that he will bleed out. He's really not bleeding that much, so I guess I'm on my own for the night. Although he didn't sound like he'd see him no matter what. Big help, huh?!?! I did a search on here and saw some similar threads....I have him soaking in a dissolved sugar-water solution to help with the swelling. Of course I have no Karo syrup in the house! I am getting one of the hatchling tubs set up with moist paper towels, so it doesn't dry out. I don't have any Preparation H or Animax ointment. Is there something else I can use? Maybe Neosporin?? I am going by what all of the other posts recommended. I realize he needs vet care, pronto, which he will get first thing in the morning. I just need some help getting him through the night. I can tell this is going to be one of those sleepless nights! Any help/ideas/suggestions are greatly appreciated!! I'm really worried about him.

Thank you in advance!!

 

[Kimjorg]

I think you have done pretty much all you can do for right now. He should be fine until you can get him to a vet. Just hang in there and keep us updated.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Religiously soak him 3X a day in warm, syrupy, sugar water. Sometimes it takes several days for the organ to retract. As long as it stays pink, it should go back in. If it starts looking black or necrotic, it may need to be amputated. Keep the male by himself on paper towel.

 

[MSMD]

Thank you for the replies! What a long, stressful night! :sleeping: Anyway, he is at the vet and will be spending the day there. I soaked him several times through the night and kept him on moist paper towels (by himself, of course) in one of the smaller tubs with nothing but a water dish, just so there was nothing to irritate the area over the course of the night.

It actually looked much better by this morning. The bleeding had completely stopped and it didn't look quite so angry. Still very red and quite swollen, but the vet said that's good, as no blackish coloring at all. She thinks it will probably be ok, but all of the swelling will need to go down before it can retract (whether on it's own or with their help). I will pick him up this afternoon.

Thank you everyone who posted and to everyone who has posted on this subject in the past. Well, basically, a great big Thank You to Geckoforums.net! :main_yes: I wouldn't have known where to begin in a situation like this without the information I was able to quickly obtain in an emergency from here. Vet said everything I did was great!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Mari, it's great that you took your gecko to the vet... I wish more people would make it a practice. Yes, it sounds like you did everything right!!!!

 

[MSMD]

Thanks, Marcia. We have had a lot of gecko-vet time lately, but they're worth it. I really just seem to have the worst of luck! lol My vet has seen all kinds of strange and interesting things from me. He's even said, "If it's going to happen, it will probably happen to you." Now, that's bad! lol

Anyway, we've always had a strict policy that, whether we have to money or not, if any of the animals needs veterinary attention, we find a way for them to get it. Period. Otherwise we should not have the animals. They deserve that much. Our vet has been really great, also.

 

[MSMD]

Alpine is home now. He seems to be doing ok. He was soaked a couple of times at the vet. I am to continue soaking and applying the preperation H (vet said this was ok so I didn't have to buy another ointment). We are waiting for the swelling to go down to see if it will retract by itself. We are keeping our fingers crossed!