Hemipene Prolapses versus Intestinal Prolapses and some other "Interesting" Boy Beardie Facts to Know

I randomly ended up helping a blog reader with a problem on a Facebook group for bearded dragons tonight and thought "Hey! Blog Post!" So here it is what I told her.

Raging hormones in male bearded dragons make them into crazy, messy, spastic monsters. It can also drive them to mate with everything and anything (and even nothing). My beardie Tiger once mated with a brown corn bag. It was quite unexpected, but fairly brief.

Dexter must have decided to mate with something tonight and got one of his hemipenes stuck outside of his vent. It's called a "Hemipene Prolapse." Hemipenes are about the size of your pinky finger and pink-- just like the one below. There's two of them in a male beardie-- one on each side of the vent.

At first Dexter's foster mom feared he had a bowel prolapse (which is very serious) and she treated it as one. She soaked him in warm sugar water and kept the area damp. If a beardie pushes out part of his/her intestines while pooping, YOU MUST GET THEM VET CARE IMMEDIATELY! The longer the portion of bowel is out of the body, the more likely it is to become infected, diseased, or to die. Until you can get in to see a vet, keep the prolapse in warm sugar water (sugar helps it to shrink). Don't let it get dirty or dry. Get a vet to get the bowel pushed back in and then you must discover what caused it. Most common cause of prolapses is parasite infestation. 

This is what a bowel (or intestinal) prolapse looks like: 

A hemipene prolapse can be soaked in warm water too. If you are comfortable, you can lubricate your smallest finger (a pinky is preferable) with KY Jelly or mineral oil or even olive oil, and gently push the hemipene back into the vent. To get it to stay in, you have to push it up over the flap of skin making up the vent and then push it down. Don't shove it in. Don't force it if it won't go. Don't stick more than about the tip of your pinky into the vent. If it comes back out, go see a vet.

KEY- IF YOU DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE DOING THIS OR CAN'T GET IT BACK IN,

DON'T DO IT! SEEK VET HELP ASAP!! 

Sometimes hemipenes will have to be amputated because the tissue has died. Not a big or traumatic deal, but definitely something that your vet should do.

Also, another word for male beardie owners. Sometimes the hemipenes release seminal fluid that builds up and forms a sheath or covering around itself. Those sheaths can sluff off and get pushed out of the vent when your beardie poops. So the poop will be left behind but there will be a greyish yellow or tan tube hanging out. It's not a big deal and it's not even a problem. Soak your beardie in warm water for 10 minutes and then you should be able to gently (but firmly) pull the sheath off and throw it away.

The first time I had a male beardie with this kind of "thing" sticking out of his vent, I panicked. I thought he had prolapsed or had a worm coming out or something. Nope. Just dried up seminal fluid. I soaked him and it came right off. Sometimes you don't even have to remove it and it falls out the next time he poops. 

Welcome to Hormone Season!

On Sunday, my hubby turned to me and said "The beardies are going crazy today! What is wrong with them?"

Yesterday, my friend, who helps me clean, asked me "Does the vacuum scare the lizards? They are very active today!"

Nope.

It's the start of hormone season.

Oy vay!

Look at these guys-- you can see how alert they are for my pics.

Max

A month ago, all my big boys were slugs. They barely moved, barely ate, barely opened their eyes.

Smaug

All of the sudden, it's like they drink energy drinks every morning and spend the day trashing their tanks and glass dancing.

Neville

Yesterday, I heard the pattering of little feet & claws across my wood floor. Somehow Neville figured out how to escape. Ay yi yi!

Ziggy

Their cages are a disaster. They poop and then finger paint with it. Their food bowls are constantly being shoved against the glass. Their water dishes look more like nasty water troughs in a cattle feed lot.

I have to dump the greens quickly and jerk my hand out of the tank so I don't get bit! They devour the greens within moments of getting them. Their beards are perpetually black and, in their minds, there is *always* something to bob their heads at.

Hormone season starts around now and lasts for a couple months.

Yes, months.

I know. I'm shaking my head too.

Beardies can SMELL each other. And their smells are very strong right now. So even if your beardies can't SEE each other, they know the others are there. This is why I am toast. My house & my tanks will be crazy for awhile and my house will only be quiet at night when it's dark.

Good luck to all of us!

Raging Hormones

Hormone season almost always follows Brumination season and most my boy beardies woke up with a vengeance!

Oh boy. 

There must be hormones in the air or something because they are all acting crazy. 

Here is Spike the 3rd mating with his blanket. He's been at it for quite some time. 

Here's Ziggy displaying his manly black beard while head bobbing. For who? I have no idea. He can't see another beardie. 

Peanut is trying to claw, scratch, and jump his way out of his tank. 

Tiger & Nubs are just as bad. Smaug goes crazy in his tank hourly. 

Hormones. 

Makes me miss the quiet days of Brumination. ;) 

But don't worry-- within a few weeks the hormones will slow down, they'll lose the instinct & urge to mate, and they'll go back to their general slug-like state. 

P.S. Iguana hormones are WAY WAY worse. Trust me.