# Tegu at the vet for prolapse



## Merlot (May 8, 2020)

Hey guys! So my red argy male, Blaze, is at the vet now for having multiple prolapses. I don’t want him to go through that anymore so hopefully they can sew em up. Send some prayers his way! I hope it didn’t get too severe guys I’d be devastated. He’s been in great demeanor and eating all that so we’ll see. Any idea how much it costs for a prolapse to be sewed up? Anticipation is killing me as I’m waiting outside


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## rantology (May 8, 2020)

Wishing you and Blaze the best, poor guy


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## Walter1 (May 8, 2020)

Oh, lordy. I wish him well with a tab you can afford.


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## Merlot (May 8, 2020)

Well guys, it looks like he is having hemipenes prolapse, basically his penis is coming out, and since he can retract it on his own the doc didn’t want to operate or anything or add sutures as it may do more harm then good. She said some occasionally have this issue especially with him being a juvenile, she said he looked great and healthy and just to monitor it. Bring in a fecal sample to see if he may parasites or Soemthing that may be causing him to push real hard or get an erection that basically “falls out” so to speak. So he’s in good shape I suppose, I just don’t want it to keep happening, but she says by the time he’s sexually mature it should subside. 49 bucks

hey, I would you guys recommend to file a tegus nails? I mean jeez, it’s a little unbearable as I know when I hold him for a long time or even if for a quick session he could slice n dice me. I’m sick of customers asking me if I own cats lol. I was thinking to take one of my wife’s nail files and dull the tips of each of his nails. I’m sure that wouldn’t go too well probably but at this point I need to do something. Like today we hung out for hours and right at the end Siced the hell out of me. Having reptiles for many years you’d think I’d be used to it, I guess just getting self conscious as my boss openely asked me in front of all my peers in a big meeting what the hell was going and was all concerned like I’m suicidal ‍


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## Walter1 (May 8, 2020)

If your tegu is a designer, expect high incidence of trouble. Why?? Because, unscrupulous breeders heavily back-cross, fixing desired traits with deleterious genes whose effects you pay good money to soften.


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## AlphaAlpha (May 8, 2020)

Better news than expected good luck.

I'd probably suggest a pet grinder for the nails although I don't cut them myself.... but get where you're coming from


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## Merlot (May 9, 2020)

Lol man I’ve never cut any reptiles nails. If anything I’d just blunt the tips a little


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## AlphaAlpha (May 9, 2020)

that's what pet grinders are like a spinning sanding stone...... should be alot easier then a Henry board


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## Mich lady (May 13, 2020)

Merlot said:


> Well guys, it looks like he is having hemipenes prolapse, basically his penis is coming out, and since he can retract it on his own the doc didn’t want to operate or anything or add sutures as it may do more harm then good. She said some occasionally have this issue especially with him being a juvenile, she said he looked great and healthy and just to monitor it. Bring in a fecal sample to see if he may parasites or Soemthing that may be causing him to push real hard or get an erection that basically “falls out” so to speak. So he’s in good shape I suppose, I just don’t want it to keep happening, but she says by the time he’s sexually mature it should subside. 49 bucks
> 
> hey, I would you guys recommend to file a tegus nails? I mean jeez, it’s a little unbearable as I know when I hold him for a long time or even if for a quick session he could slice n dice me. I’m sick of customers asking me if I own cats lol. I was thinking to take one of my wife’s nail files and dull the tips of each of his nails. I’m sure that wouldn’t go too well probably but at this point I need to do something. Like today we hung out for hours and right at the end Siced the hell out of me. Having reptiles for many years you’d think I’d be used to it, I guess just getting self conscious as my boss openely asked me in front of all my peers in a big meeting what the hell was going and was all concerned like I’m suicidal ‍


I cut my black and white tegus nails quite often. He is pretty tolerant of it. I do when he is in the tub bathing. He cant run away,lol. I use a regular toenail clipper


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## Debita (May 13, 2020)

I haven't done it but was thinking of a dog clipping tool, where you only take a little off at a time. Just about the time my scratches have healed, I sure enough get new ones. 

I can't imagine my Tegu would be still long enough for me to actually file, so I'd go with Mich Lady's idea of clipping in the tub. I'm wondering if they have that same physiology though that dogs do. You really can't clip very far up on a dog.


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## Mich lady (May 13, 2020)

Debita said:


> I haven't done it but was thinking of a dog clipping tool, where you only take a little off at a time


Yea, I use that too sometimes. I just cut the tip so his nails aren't so sharp.


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## Merlot (May 13, 2020)

I watched a few videos where lot of people jsut use human nail clippers lol. Most tegus don’t seem to have issue at all. Heck, the vet was done literally in 8 minutes from taking him in to taking him out, they said just do it right where the nail curves down and you can do it safely and still leave a nice nub on each toe


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## Debita (May 13, 2020)

Awesome - good info! Thx


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## AlphaAlpha (May 14, 2020)

Debita said:


> I haven't done it but was thinking of a dog clipping tool, where you only take a little off at a time. Just about the time my scratches have healed, I sure enough get new ones.



Alpha is the same and I'm certain he waits till all my scratches are just about healed and then he thinks "Freak out time" lol


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## Merlot (May 31, 2020)

So I took a decal sample to the vet, turns out he has hookworms. The vet it was fairly uncommon for tegus or lizards to get hookworms, and they sent it to another lab to verify. Got a medicine for him. He has been pooping nice good old reg huge poops now. Has not prolapsed and has been doing pretty darn well. I’m pretty loaded though because I have no ideas how he got them. She said it’s usually because they eat another animals (dogs/cats/etc) poop. He hasn’t been around ANY other animals. He about 20 months old and I’ve had him for 17-18 months. Could he have came with parasites or did I do something wrong? He had some prolapses fairly early on and fixed it and never got a fecal sample. I feel really dumb. But anyways I feel way better as I can see the difference since he’s taken the first dose of meds. Poops and appetite are way up. I don’t have to monitor so closely and experiment with amounts/type of food in fear of a prolapse. So as I ramble I wonder again how he got them, and also. How can I get his damn tail and body to shed about the same time/cycle. Since he woke up from brumation, he had a really bad stuck tail shed. I mostly remedied it, looks like the last 1/4 of his tail still has a little stuck shed after fixing up his tail, the shed came off like body armor. Been going through the cycle a little bit since brumation and body sheds first, then tail- kind of too late after the body for my thinking. Now he is having a full body shed again. I can see the tail is not really shedding again, just want it all to happen roughly the same time!


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## Debita (Jun 2, 2020)

I feel your pain.....I'm trying everything for my male, and still have at least a 3/4 length of non-shed on his tail that just keeps looking worse after trying everything that's been suggested on the forum. I keep thinking "any day now"


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## Merlot (Jul 8, 2020)

took another fecal sample 2 weeks after the last dose of meds and NO MORE WORMS!!! Guys please, if your tegu gets a prolapse, and you fix it yourself like it did and they seem fine. Get a fecal sample right away to the vet. 50 freaking dollars I could’ve solved this issue of chronic prolapse, 15$ for the meds. I found the best, most reasonably priced exotic vet ever. Shout out to CARE Animal Hospital in Illinois area locations. They have like 5 star reviews at like every location. Fair. Honest. Smart. Didn’t try to up sell me or anything. Just exactly what he needed. He’s perfect now and just take this as a lesson y’all. A fecal sample is affordable for almost anyone struggling on funds. I’m an idiot and thought it was the food, light, temps, and everything was perfect. (Mostly, humidity is a pita with red argies but we are mostly good, and I think im catching up his shed cycle so that his tail and body shed at the time almost now) so I thought I was the hero by fixing his prolapse issues. Vet visit is worth it. Even if if just a fecal sample. I know I sound redundant But I feel I made him suffer too long with out a vet visit but he’s been thriving the whole time otherwise and especially now. His skin looks grea, perfect poops. Just trying to get him little more hydrated but he’s good


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## rantology (Jul 8, 2020)

Happy ending! thank you for sharing your findings. Interesting that the worms were the cause.... Don't feel bad, you responded to your gu's needs promptly and I can see the love just in the way you type about him! Yall are a team and doing well


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## Walter1 (Jul 9, 2020)

Merlot,

Superb advice. You've saved your lizard andhelped others.

New tegu + vet check a good combination.


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## Merlot (Jul 12, 2020)

Thank you all for the nice words! I’m just happy he’s thriving, now I need to finish his enclosure already to get him real happy lol.


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