male parts and poop

Question
I have just acquired two rabbits. 1 female and 1 male.  the male rabbit, when turned over has poop(FORMED LIKE REGULAR RABBIT TURDS)inside by his penis.  this makes it hard for my children to pick him up and play with him.  hes very friendly. he has large testicles and they cover the poop sort of but as soon as we pick him up some pieces of poop sart falling of and the rest stay inside by his penis.  is this normal? what can i do for him?

Answer
Hi Tonia,

it is not good to have fecal material mashed into hair back there on rabbits.  He needs to be cleaned by you or your vet.  You need to take very light, slightly wet washcloths and (with him on his back, between your legs sitting in a chair) and you need to get the poop area wet in order to comb out the big pieces.  Smaller pieces can be worked on by the wet washcloth and gently pulling on them to break them down.

Otherwise you need to get to your vet and they will clean him and probably trim some of his fur (don't do this yourself) to keep the area from getting matted so quickly again.

It sounds like you may not have their diet down properly.  More than anything else, they need hay and lots of it.  Green, fresh, and smelling good.  Timothy hay and Orchard grass hay is best.  Small amounts of timothy hay pellets are okay (1/4 cup per 5 pounds of rabbit body weight).

Avoid all treats and anything with sugar or corn syrup.  At this point I would also avoid giving them greens until this clear up and he isn't having a messy bottom.  

Write back anytime.  Lee