Prolapsed Hemipene!

Another thread reminded me of this guy, and I think you owe us one or 2 more updates on this one Tim!

Was he fine after he was done copulating? And, did he successfully sire babies?

Casey,
He did successfully sire 5 Bees last year, and is breeding with gusto this year. I have been able to confirm that he has used the pene that was damaged after it healed. He has used both penes this year.

I actually have another male that is experiencing pene issues this year, but they are slightly different, and I haven't determined exactly what is going on, but I am working on repairing it. I may have to post up some more details about this other issue, if I ever find out exactly what is going on, and if the solutioon will fix it. I think he may be out for the whole season this year (it's a Pewter this time).

With the above said, the lesson I have taken from this, is to check the cloaca and the overall pene health every time I pull the male from a tub. Just a quick look has helped me to id problems before the get worse, if one exists.

Thanks for the update Tim! Good to hear that he is doing so well.

I had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago when I was going to remove some males from the female tubs. My Butter male was sitting on top of the female and I noticed his hemipene was out. The first thought that went through my head was what is this knuckle head doing. As I look closer it just did not look right. I pick him up and oh no, he has a prolapsed hemipene. The first thing I did was remove all of the bedding from his enclosure and lined it with moist paper towels. I then cleaned the area of any debris. Then tried to remember where I saw someone post about a prolapsed hemipene.

When I finally found it I did exactly what it said with the sugar and water. With in an hour he retracted his hemipene. I was relieved. I checked on him the next morning and he seemed fine. After a week I gently popped him and everything was back to normal even had a huge sperm plug. I guess I caught it in time. I check all of my Ball Pythons every day no matter what.

I would like to say Thanks to Tim for this every informative post. It helped me out a ton. Here are a few pictures of his prolapsed hemipene:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...emiPeni3-1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...emiPeni2-1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...emiPeni1-1.jpg

Can we have some more follow-up images please? Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Repsrul

I had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago when I was going to remove some males from the female tubs. My Butter male was sitting on top of the female and I noticed his hemipene was out. The first thought that went through my head was what is this knuckle head doing. As I look closer it just did not look right. I pick him up and oh no, he has a prolapsed hemipene. The first thing I did was remove all of the bedding from his enclosure and lined it with moist paper towels. I then cleaned the area of any debris. Then tried to remember where I saw someone post about a prolapsed hemipene.

When I finally found it I did exactly what it said with the sugar and water. With in an hour he retracted his hemipene. I was relieved. I checked on him the next morning and he seemed fine. After a week I gently popped him and everything was back to normal even had a huge sperm plug. I guess I caught it in time. I check all of my Ball Pythons every day no matter what.

I would like to say Thanks to Tim for this every informative post. It helped me out a ton. Here are a few pictures of his prolapsed hemipene:

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You are very welcome. This is exactly why I like to post these crazy things. I always hope that my crazy stories can help someone else with similar problems. Congrats on catching it early and being able to utilize that male for the rest of the season. I hopoe you get some beautiful offspring from him this year.

HELP! PLEASE!
I HAVE A BABY BOY, I BELIEVE HE IS ABOUT 8 MONTHS NOW, I (LIKE AN IDIOT) ALLOWED HIM TO BE PROBED TO DISCOVER HIS GENDER AT THE FLEA MARKER ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO. SINCE HE HAS EATEN AND DEFECATED ABOUT THREE TIMES. ON HIS LAST FEEDING HE HAD DIARRHEA.
MY BOYFRIEND TOLD ME ABOUT IT AND WHEN I CAME HOME TO CHANGE HIS NEWSPAPER BEDDING (WE RECENTLY CHANGED B/C WE HAD A BAD MOLD EXPERIENCE WITH SOME BEDDING THAT WE PURCHASED FROM A FAMILY FRIEND)
UPON WASHING OUT HIS CAGE I NOTICED HIS BUT HAD A SMALL PINK BUBBLE.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_205903.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...205_125544.jpg

BECAUSE i'M EXTREMELY STUPID AND DIDN'T THINK TO LOOK HERE FIRST, I IMMEDIATELY DEFAULTED TO HAVE MY BOYFRIEND TAKE HIM TO THE PLACE I PURCHASED HIM AT TO HAVE THE "EXPERT TAKE A LOOK" HE ADVISED MY BF TO SOAK HIM IN WARM WATER FOR 30 MINUTES AND USE VASELINE/OLIVE OIL TO LUBRICATE HIS HEMIPENE AND GENTLY HELP THE SNAKE PUSH IT BACK IN. MYBOYFRIEND TRIED ... IT DIDN'T WORK.
I CALLED THE VET, OF COURSE THEY WANT A RUMP, A MILLION BUCKS AND A HANDSHAKE, SO I CAN'T AFFORD TO HAVE HIM FIXED PROFESSIONALLY(AT LEAST NOT CURRENTLY) IN THE MEAN TIME THIS ALL HAPPENED LAST THURSDAY(3 DAYS AGO)
HE'S BEEN CURLED UP IN HIS ENCLOSURE BEHIND A ROCK AND IT FINALLY HIT ME TO COME HERE.
THIS IS WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE TODAY WHEN I GOT HOME
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_204321.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_205910.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_204409.jpg
HE WOULDN'T KEEP STILL. BUT I FOUND POOP IN HIS ENCLOSURE
I DIPPED HIS TAIL IN LUKEWARM WATER AND USED A FEW Q-TIPS TO CLEAN UP THE "LEFTOVERS" AND DEBRI, I REMOVED WHAT APPEARED TO BE A SCAB AS WELL
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...s/DSCF3206.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_205903.jpg
I ALSO HAD BY BOYFRIEND BUY PAPER TOWELS AND STARTED TO MESSAGE HIM AS THIS ARTICLE STATES. IT LOOKS TO HAVE GONE IN SOME AND I CAN TELL HE'S TRYING TO PULL IT IN, SO I AM ABOUT TO MAKE THE SUGAR PASTE TO SHRINK IT SOME TO HELP HERE IS A BEFORE PICTURE
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0_210002-1.jpg

PLEASE WISH ME LUCK AND DON'T HESITATE TO GIVE ME ANY... I MEAN ANY ADVICE. I'VE HAD A CORN SNAKE BEFORE, BUT THIS IS HUGE FOR US. I APPRECIATE ALL HELP

I know this sounds silly, but am i supposed to rinse off the sugar paste immediately? If not, how long should it remain on before i rinse it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by muddoc

it's time for home veterinarian care part ii, with tim.
Note: These episodes are not planned! Lol

disclaimer: I did not act alone in this diagnosis. I consulted with two of my mentor home veternarians before applying this treatment (sean bradley and adam wysocki). The story is below.

I went to the snake room this evening to put some males in with females. I got through about 15 pairings, and got to the last male. Skippy the bumblebee was scheduled togoin with the currently unnamed lemon blast female #2. Well, i slid out the tub and picked up skippy. Oh no. What is that. A prolapsed hemipene. What now?

Unfortunately i did not get pictures of the scene when i first found it, but his hemipene was extremely engorged, and was very dry looking. Upon inspecting a little closer (which means touching it), the "scab", for lack of a better term, started to fall off. The scab casing came off pretty easily to reveal the soft tissue. However, this did leave a small bit of blood as well. The first step was to rinse it off, and try to get some water on it and remoisten it. I then emptied his tub of aspen bedding and replaced it with moist paper towels. This was to try and keep anything from aggravating the problem further, and keep his hemipene from drying out and falling off.

At this point, i made my two phone calls (to the veteranarian mentors) and concocted a course of treatment, and of course got the camera for visual documentation of the event. Below are the pictures of the prolapsed hemipene.

P.s. Sean said not to worry, that is why god gave them 2. However, we are going to try and save this one as well, and don't want any chance of infection from an exposed organ.

http://www.baileyreptiles.com/pics/pene1.jpg

http://www.baileyreptiles.com/pics/pene2.jpg

the recommended treatment was as follows. Mix up a sugar/water paste. Meaning, do not dissolve all of the sugar, but make a very pasty concotion of water and sugar. Sugar is hydrophilic (meaning it loves water and absorbs as much as possible). Like when you leave a sucker in your mouth for a while, your inner cheeks get wrinkly. Sugar, like salt, is a dessicant, and will dry out tissue. After the paste is mixed, take the male by the tail, and palpate the animal backwards (from tail towards head). The reason for this, is the muscles that control the penes are on the opposite side of the cloaca from the hemipenes. Palpate them in an effort to stretch them out. At the same time, attempt to push the hemipene vback into the cloacal vent. After you have got the pene as far back in as possible, liberally spread the paste onto the remaining pene. This will hopefully help toshrink the pene, and allow the animal to pull the hemipene back into the body.

If it is still hanging out tomorrow, we will apply the same treatment, untilthe problem is resolved. I will update everyone over the course of the next week, as to the outcome of this event. My plan at the moment is to remove him from the breeding program, unless he appears to be normal after a minimum of 3 weeks, and i can manually evert his penes, and he retracts them on his own. I will keep a record here as to how the progress goes over the next month ( and intonext season if need be).

I hope this may help someone one day with what i deem as a rare occurance. Specail thanks to sean and adam for the wisdom.

Signed,
dr. Tim (lol)

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my males left hemipenes falls out when he is popping! what do i do? it dosent go out much its just like 1mm but still wants to know what is going on and what to do abaut it! Please help me!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChynaAndMike

HELP! PLEASE!
I HAVE A BABY BOY, I BELIEVE HE IS ABOUT 8 MONTHS NOW, I (LIKE AN IDIOT) ALLOWED HIM TO BE PROBED TO DISCOVER HIS GENDER AT THE FLEA MARKER ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO. SINCE HE HAS EATEN AND DEFECATED ABOUT THREE TIMES. ON HIS LAST FEEDING HE HAD DIARRHEA.
MY BOYFRIEND TOLD ME ABOUT IT AND WHEN I CAME HOME TO CHANGE HIS NEWSPAPER BEDDING (WE RECENTLY CHANGED B/C WE HAD A BAD MOLD EXPERIENCE WITH SOME BEDDING THAT WE PURCHASED FROM A FAMILY FRIEND)
UPON WASHING OUT HIS CAGE I NOTICED HIS BUT HAD A SMALL PINK BUBBLE.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_205903.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...205_125544.jpg

BECAUSE i'M EXTREMELY STUPID AND DIDN'T THINK TO LOOK HERE FIRST, I IMMEDIATELY DEFAULTED TO HAVE MY BOYFRIEND TAKE HIM TO THE PLACE I PURCHASED HIM AT TO HAVE THE "EXPERT TAKE A LOOK" HE ADVISED MY BF TO SOAK HIM IN WARM WATER FOR 30 MINUTES AND USE VASELINE/OLIVE OIL TO LUBRICATE HIS HEMIPENE AND GENTLY HELP THE SNAKE PUSH IT BACK IN. MYBOYFRIEND TRIED ... IT DIDN'T WORK.
I CALLED THE VET, OF COURSE THEY WANT A RUMP, A MILLION BUCKS AND A HANDSHAKE, SO I CAN'T AFFORD TO HAVE HIM FIXED PROFESSIONALLY(AT LEAST NOT CURRENTLY) IN THE MEAN TIME THIS ALL HAPPENED LAST THURSDAY(3 DAYS AGO)
HE'S BEEN CURLED UP IN HIS ENCLOSURE BEHIND A ROCK AND IT FINALLY HIT ME TO COME HERE.
THIS IS WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE TODAY WHEN I GOT HOME
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_204321.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_205910.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_204409.jpg
HE WOULDN'T KEEP STILL. BUT I FOUND POOP IN HIS ENCLOSURE
I DIPPED HIS TAIL IN LUKEWARM WATER AND USED A FEW Q-TIPS TO CLEAN UP THE "LEFTOVERS" AND DEBRI, I REMOVED WHAT APPEARED TO BE A SCAB AS WELL
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...s/DSCF3206.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...210_205903.jpg
I ALSO HAD BY BOYFRIEND BUY PAPER TOWELS AND STARTED TO MESSAGE HIM AS THIS ARTICLE STATES. IT LOOKS TO HAVE GONE IN SOME AND I CAN TELL HE'S TRYING TO PULL IT IN, SO I AM ABOUT TO MAKE THE SUGAR PASTE TO SHRINK IT SOME TO HELP HERE IS A BEFORE PICTURE
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0_210002-1.jpg

PLEASE WISH ME LUCK AND DON'T HESITATE TO GIVE ME ANY... I MEAN ANY ADVICE. I'VE HAD A CORN SNAKE BEFORE, BUT THIS IS HUGE FOR US. I APPRECIATE ALL HELP

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I would take him to the vet. If yours wants tons of money, I'd consider searching around.

I had to take one of my snakes to the vet for a prolapsed hemipene, and the bill was less than $200. He was bought from a pet store, and his hemipene was prolapsed when I got him. It had been out for god knows how long, and had become infected, with necrotic flesh. I felt bad for him, plus he was a beautiful snake, so I bought him cheaply and promptly took him to the vet. They actually had to remove his hemipene, because it was so bad off. He has scar tissue, but he's otherwise healthy and happy now.

The diarrhea is my biggest concern with your snake. His life may depend on a vet visit.