# Question about male Rabbit Genitals?



## mariethomas (Dec 22, 2013)

I picked up my unnuetered Lionhead who is about 5 months old, I noticed for the first time his private was out, but it was pink, and then blue! I was so surprised and I had never realized this. This definitely doesn't seem normal to me? He's behaving normally and poos and pees normally as well. But I'm so worried. What could it be?


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## Michelledickerhoff (Dec 22, 2013)

I don't know about the blue, I've never seen my male rabbits ever blue, but I think 5 months is around the time my male rabbit started getting very hormonal, and that's when he started spraying everywhere and trying to hump my cats! It got so bad he sprayed me my advice is to get him neutered before his hormonal stage starts I herd if yu do it before he may never spray, it may have something to do with hormones but I'm still a new rabbit mommy! This site is amazing tho, I'm sure someone on here will know what the problem is, they have helped me with so much!


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## PaGal (Dec 22, 2013)

Some intact males will spray and some will not. It all seems to depend on the rabbit. There is less chance of your bun spraying if he is the only bun around but that is not always the case.

I have an intact 1 1/2 year old male. He never sprayed until I took in two intact bonded females. For a short period he did start to spray. I put an x pen up to separate the room and now that he cannot get so close to the girls cage he stopped spraying.

Neutering can be beneficial though.

I'm not sure about the color. I have only seen my guys a few times and it was a pinkish/red.


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## RabbitLover94 (Dec 22, 2013)

I second the earlier post that spraying depends on the buck. Even neutered bucks can spray, but it is less likely, especially if they're neutered young.

What exactly do you mean by his "private" being out. Do you mean his testicles have dropped or that his penis was extended?

An exposed penis should be a pink/red color. But the color of the testicles depends on the color of the rabbit and will range from pale pink to a dark gray/blue. Broken-patterns can have pink and blueish patches. 

Basically, what I mean is that if his penis is blue, there may be a problem that needs to be checked out. But if it's just his testicles, so long as there's no swelling or lumps, it's probably normal. Unless the blue color looks like bruising, but in that case there would probably be some swelling too.


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## mariethomas (Dec 22, 2013)

I was so worried at the time of this happening, I didn't explain properly. I don't allow my bucks together because neither of them are neutered. He was humping my younger rabbit, and doing his little grunts as he always does when around my other rabbit, so I picked him up immediately and he was erect (this is what I meant by out) but the coloring it was got me worried, it was pink with a blue? I was so surprised I didn't even look for as long as I should have. I've seen some pictures online of their gentiles with some blue undertone, so that's what got me to believe it was alright.

Either way I will be bringing him to the vet tomorrow. I don't know if he could have done it to himself, or my other rabbit nipped him. I've seen his testicles once, and they were pink. He has a lot of hair so it's difficult to find them. His behavior is like always, and shows no signs of pain. I'm going to check him again - should the color of his private always be a pink color? Any undertones of blue or a pale color? Thanks a lot.

As for nuetering, I trust no vet where I live, and have to come to the decision of whether or not I do get him neutered. Even my family agrees that here in Ecuador, where I live, they will only kill him in the process. So I'll have to take into consideration a lot of factors, as he is going on 6 months I believe and still has a nice personality, and does not spray.


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## woahlookitsme (Dec 22, 2013)

Whenever I have seen my bucks it has been a pink color. Unless the penis is continually exposed I don't think I'd worry. You can extend it yourself. Basically how people check genders of baby buns is how to expose the penis. 

An injury could be logical but it could also be the natural color of it. Taking him to the vet for a check up if you cannot check it seems like an okay idea


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## Imbrium (Dec 22, 2013)

mariethomas said:


> As for nuetering, I trust no vet where I live, and have to come to the decision of whether or not I do get him neutered. Even my family agrees that here in Ecuador, where I live, they will only kill him in the process. So I'll have to take into consideration a lot of factors, as he is going on 6 months I believe and still has a nice personality, and does not spray.



Neutering is really only done to make it possible to bond two bunnies or for behavioral reasons anyway - if you're not interested in bonding and can tolerate the hormonal behavior, neutering isn't considered "necessary" even when a trustworthy vet is available.

Spaying, by contrast, is extremely important due to unspayed females' proclivity for reproductive cancers... but in your particular situation I woudn't even recommend getting a female fixed (let alone a male) - I wouldn't trust a non-rabbit-savvy vet in a third world country to operate on my bunny or anyone else's unless their life was in imminent danger (with surgery being the only viable option). I really think you're making the right call by not neutering him.

For what it's worth, I've heard that in many bunnies, hormonal behaviors (including the very obnoxious ones like urine spraying and non-stop humping) tend to die down quite a bit once they're over a year old, so it's often just the "teenage phase" where they drive you crazy with their hormones 

If you're not terribly confident with the outcome/diagnosis at the vet tomorrow, you may be interested in this article about Dr. Dana Krempels, who answers rabbit questions online through a free website (link provided in the article). She has a PhD in biology, has had pet rabbits for over 35 years and has a long list of other rabbit-related credentials.


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## mariethomas (Dec 23, 2013)

I just checked it out again, and it actually seems pretty normal now. Pink, but when erect there was obvious blue. But I don't think it's anything to worry about. I don't think I should cost him the stress of bringing him to the vet. Thanks.


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## Imbrium (Dec 23, 2013)

I'm glad things seem to be normal after all!


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## mariethomas (Dec 23, 2013)

I think I've come to the conclusion that I won't bond either of my bucks. I got lucky enough to find two males, because all we have here are does. In a year, if his hormones ever do die down, could I ever let him even interact with my other male? But by then they'll both be sexually mature... I couldn't put any of them through surgery just for them to become bonded. If not, I'll just take care of two individual rabbits. 

I have to bring him in a week to get de-parasited (we do it every 3 months here...) so I'll make sure to bring this issue up with my vet. Thanks.


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## Imbrium (Dec 23, 2013)

While some people have gotten away with two sexually mature same-sex unaltered rabbits living together, they're never considered truly bonded and it's not safe to leave them together unsupervised. If they can see/smell each other all the time even though they're separated and they seem to get along, then it may be possible to let them out to run around together as long as someone's watching (this is far more likely to work if one is dominant and the other is submissive or if both are submissive - two unaltered dominant bunnies is a recipe for disaster).


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## Michelledickerhoff (Dec 23, 2013)

Mariethomas why do yu have to get him deparasited and how do they do that?


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## Imbrium (Dec 23, 2013)

My guess is it's a preventative measure rather than ridding of actual parasites (as the word might suggest) and has to do with geographical location (like how bunnies are vaccinated against certain things in certain countries while in other countries they don't get any shots at all, or how dogs get monthly flea/tick/heartworm prevention)... though of course, that's just speculation and I could be totally wrong .


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## RabbitGirl101 (Dec 23, 2013)

When erect, the base of the penis will have a blue tinge to it. The top of it is pink.

In regards to spraying this depends on the rabbit. In my experience rabbits that are housed alone with no scents of other rabbits around (mostly females) will not spray. Spraying is a way to mark their territory and most bucks won't do this unless they feel the need to claim whats theirs.


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## mariethomas (Dec 23, 2013)

Imbrium is basically right. I don't actually know why it's something we do every 3 months, because none of them last longer than that I suppose. I bring them to my vet and he/she will give them a yellow thick fluid in their mouth through a syringe about up to the 1mm. I've also heard from another vet that sometimes these are strong so she recommended giving them a powder like pill in their water, but I don't think this will be as effective because they won't drink the water. Same thing goes for my dogs, and when I had a cat it was also every 3 months where I live.


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## mariethomas (Dec 23, 2013)

Thanks. I'm confident he's fine now. 

Before I got another rabbit he knew everything was his to play with and lay on, but after I got another rabbit he started rubbing his chin on everything claiming all of it. He doesn't spray...yet.


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