Male Leopard Gecko Hemipenal Bulges Problem

**Mike Markov** · 08-29-2011, 12:48 PM

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Hi there everybody. So my male 2 year old leopard gecko seems to have a very swollen hemipenal bulge for a few weeks now. Only one is swollen and the other one is fine. It looks pretty bad, but he is alert, active, eating, and drinking normally. Only some of his poop is small and greenish at times. Anyways here are some pictures.

Here he is:

The swollen bulge is on the left. The one on the right is normal:

Also the hole on the swollen bulge seems to be scabbed over and infected:

Also he has had a few sperm plugs before that I removed around a year ago. Going to the vet right now is not much of a option because I am low on funds and also the vet clinic in my area is way to expensive. But if it is TOTALLY necessary I will take him. Any help would be great, Mike.

**Yoshi'smom** · 08-29-2011, 03:01 PM

Vet time!

**Mike Markov** · 08-29-2011, 05:52 PM

Really? Do you know what the swelling is caused by and stuff?

**Yoshi'smom** · 08-29-2011, 06:17 PM

Looks to be an infection of some sort. I wouldn't let it go too much longer. Infections can be serious. It's red and swollen and needs to be looked at by a qualified vet. I don't have any guesses as to what may have caused it. Can you give us specifics on how he's housed and how he has been acting. Does he have a tank-mate that could have bit him possibly. Right now all I can recommend is that you do some warm water soaks for about 20 mins or so to help the swelling. I hope it goes well. Keep us updated.

**Mike Markov** · 08-29-2011, 10:45 PM

Ok he is housed in a 20 gallon tank with a humid hide at the hot end and a normal rock ride at the cool end. Calcium dish and mealworm dish, some mealworms escape and roam around. He has always been a lazy gecko. He does not like to chase his food. I needed to put the mealworm dish today right where he was sitting so that he would eat. His hot side is 83 degrees farenheit (he has been fine with that temp his whole life) and cool 70degrees farenheit. He has no house mates but has interacted with my female before (he did not get bit) Lastly it seems to hurt him when I touch around the swollen area, he trys to get away etc. etc.... Thats pretty much it and I will give him the baths. Off to go search for a better vet now....

**Yoshi'smom** · 08-30-2011, 07:08 AM

I would bump up those hot side temps to close to 90F. Do you have and under tank heater? If so, the temp on top of that should read 93-95F. Do you know for sure that he wasn't bitten by the female? You were watching the whole time?

**Mike Markov** · 08-30-2011, 10:27 AM

Ok I will do that, and yes I have a exo-terra desert UTH. I dont know why its no going up to 90F. And yes, I'm sure he was not bitten by the female. Another note is that this started to happen as soon as I got back from a vacation and a friend did not put a humid hide in the tank when he was shedding. The caused some shed to get stuck in his vent, and also get stuck on the hole on this bulge. Also when I was gone my friend told me he did not handle the geckos.

**Yoshi'smom** · 08-30-2011, 03:16 PM

Yeah, a stuck shed would cause and infection like that. I can't recommend anything other than to bring him to the vet so he can get prescribed some antibiotics.

**Mike Markov** · 08-30-2011, 05:38 PM

Ok, and one last question, this would not go away on its own? Because right now he is acting normally and has been for the past few weeks with this going on.