Pictured below:  Hemi-Penal Prolapse adult male Panther Chameleon

December 20, 2002 - Update

Chris succumbed to his injuries today.  He fell asleep around 3pm and never awoke.  He died peacefully at 5pm.  Today

December 18, 2002 - Update

Chris survived the procedure to reduce his hemipenal prolapse (pictured above).  He drank for a brief time on his own this morning.  He has not eaten nor defecated since the procedure.  I fear the worst but I'm not giving up on this little guy.

December 14, 2002

Chris was mating with Tiger.  He had mated previously with Tiger on several occasions and had mated with Rainbow, a Chameleon owned by my friend Ruth.  Today looked no different.  Chris did his usual courting moves and Tiger appeared to be very receptive.  He mounted her and she remained docile.  I left the room for a few minutes and when I returned I noticed that Tiger's back was covered in blood.  I thought perhaps she had been injured during mating but the blood wasn't hers.

During the mating process, Chris had a hemipenal prolapse.  The penis of a Chameleon is a two pronged affair.   You can see each of the two prongs in the picture above - they have small white barbs covering the surface.  Once either of these two structures is inserted into the female the barbs insure that the animals remain in contact until mating is complete.

There are ligaments that hold the penis in two sacks located on either side of the base of the tail.  If one of these ligaments ruptures the entire structure can slide out through the vent.  This becomes a medical emergency.  There is an excellent article on the emergency treatment of a prolapse on the Adcham web site:  http://adcham.com/html/veterinary/vet-hemipenal-pare.html

I quickly soaked Chris's prolapse in sugar water.  With the blood present and the extent of the prolapse I felt it was best to get him to a vet rather than try and reduce the prolapse myself.  I coated the exposed tissue in a water soluble jelly (K-Y Jelly) then wrapped him in Saran wrap to protect the exposed tissue from the environment.  I got him to the vet and she's working on him now.  Time will tell how he makes out.

Mating in the wild can be very dangerous to Chameleons.  While they are mating they are exposed to predators.  An unreceptive female can be very aggressive towards a male and seriously injure him.  An overly aggressive male can easily injure a a smaller female.  Immediately after breeding, the female will change colors and can suddenly turn on her mate and attack.

Whether a female mates or not, her body will produce eggs.  This process is very hard on the female and strips her body of nutrients and calcium.  The process of laying eggs is full of danger for the female.  She must spend significant time exposed on the forest floor and expend huge amounts of energy digging her nest.  If she fails to find a good location or is disturbed during the process she may retain the eggs and die "egg bound".

The entire mating process is very dangerous and often deadly for both male and female Chameleons.