Last night I went to pet my Bun and he jumped a bit when I touched his ear. I touched the other and he was ok.

So I took him out and looked and there was quite a build up in there 

Of course I cuddled him and then took him for me to investigate the ear, set him in a towel so he would feel safe.

His ear is a bit swollen and it was obviously a bit painful, I looked up some stuff on what to do.

I got a small cup of warm water, very little peroxide in the water and q-tips.

I worked on the ear for over an hour, got a lot of gunk out but decided to give him a break. He was being very good. I talked to him through the whole thing. He would jump when it started to irritate him, I would comfort him after that then he would close his eyes and relax.I did this again today.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give a bit of background. My question (s) are.

1. when is it imperative that you have to take them to a vet?

2. is it ok for me to take care of this myself? i have a lot of experience with animals and rescues and generally have always just handled most of the not so emergent stuff myself. I mean how dangerous is it to clean it out over a couple of days?

3. after i get done, i put him back and he digs in the ear for a bit. he seems to get some out too doing that, i assume i loosen it up with the water, but it does have a tiny bit of peroxide. like 1 part per 3 parts water.

he is still eating great, playing, he’s not being aggressive.

this is my first experience with buns so i dont wanted to get some opinions? suggestions? advice?

thanks!! He is the black and white in the pics, the little black one is shadow.