# Penile Prolapse



## RGB (Dec 22, 2013)

Thanks Tortoise Forum!!!!

I had a young male tortoise unable to pull his penis back in after breeding. I placed it in warm water and then cool water trying to assist the poor guy. Finally I hit the internet for ideas. Old posts on the tortoise forum talked about packing the penis with white granulated sugar. The sugar will pull the fluid out turning the sugar into a paste, causing the penis to shrink. It worked perfectly! He was back to normal in 5-10 min!!
I will post pics of the pre sugar state. I should have taken a pic of the smile on his face after his penis was saved! 
Just wanted to pass this along in case it helps anyone else in this predicament.


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## Yvonne G (Dec 22, 2013)

I'm so glad you were able to get it to go back inside. I'm sure you realize, that the next step would have been amputation.


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## Team Gomberg (Dec 22, 2013)

Whoa, good save. 

I'd be curious to see photos from the sugar and paste stage, too.


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## StarSapphire22 (Dec 22, 2013)

I had no idea tortoises were so, uh...gifted. Eek.

Good save...how awesome! I'd also be curious to see the sugar paste trick.


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## reatrocity (Dec 22, 2013)

That sounds so scary! I'm glad he's okay!


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## RGB (Dec 23, 2013)

Yes, I'm very glad I discovered it when I did. If the swelling got more pronounced it would have caused reduced blood flow with disastrous consequences. Amputation and sterilization was avoided by some sugar! I'm so glad it worked.

I didn't take any pics with the sugar on the penis. But I just packed a thick amount of sugar around it and it would quickly turn into a damp paste. Once this occurred, I would just wipe most of it off and replace it with more dry sugar.

The results were miraculous! I'm so relieved!


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## JeffR (May 23, 2022)

So I come home at midnight from my ED shift and I went to make sure my Burmese Stars were tucked in and I found one outside of its hide. When I picked it up it looked like his intestines had fallen out as he had this “meaty tail” adorned with leaf litter. I brought him in and when cleaned up it was clear he had a prolapsed penis. 

As it was midnight an there was no vet option I tried cold water (thinking it works on most guys  ). The water did not help so I in a panic looked at tortoise forum and read how you can sweeten the situation with good results. After packing with sugar we got “Costanza level shrinkage”. It was a dramatic improvement but it did not spontaneously reduce. I then used gentle pressure like I was treating a paraphimosis and it gradually reduced. The last 10 percent required pulling the tail while applying steady pressure with a finger tip until cloaca relaxed. Finally got to bead around 2:30am.


It is now two days later and he seems to be normal but eating a little less than normal but then again he is coming off of a sugar high . 

Hope this help others who may have to deal with overly randy reptiles.


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## JeffR (May 25, 2022)

Yvonne G said:


> I'm so glad you were able to get it to go back inside. I'm sure you realize, that the next step would have been amputation.


Yeah, the forum was super helpful with getting it back it back in. I hope others can avoid amputation with the sugar—-steady pressure and finally the tail grab and pressure on the cloaca. I am an ED doc so used to doing reductions like this. The paraphimosis reduction in humans is a very similar technique.


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## JeffR (Jun 20, 2022)

Yvonne G said:


> I'm so glad you were able to get it to go back inside. I'm sure you realize, that the next step would have been amputation.


Just to follow up with you Yvonne. It happened again a week later and it was reduced again using same technique, but it came out again the following morning and the tissues looked pretty bad so he got it amputated. He is now about a month out and “stubby” is doing great. Sad he will not be having any babies. All show and no go -(


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## michiganice91 (Jul 22, 2022)

JeffR said:


> Just to follow up with you Yvonne. It happened again a week later and it was reduced again using same technique, but it came out again the following morning and the tissues looked pretty bad so he got it amputated. He is now about a month out and “stubby” is doing great. Sad he will not be having any babies. All show and no go -(


Had the exact same thing happen to a sulcata I used to have. Did the exact same remedies you tried, eventually the tissue turned necrotic and the penis had to be amputated. Apparently this isn't all that uncommon I guess.


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## MenagerieGrl (Jul 22, 2022)

Wow, that boy has some "Junk"


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