Intro & Tattoos

[unionjack9889]

Hi all, I've come here for advice on random bunny oddities for a little while, but just got around to making an account. Background: I raised Mini-Rex for show when I was younger and in 4H. These days, we've got 3 we use for family meat (feeding kids is expensive! lol). Our buck looks like a Florida White, our does are some kind of Dutch-looking mutts we picked up for free from a guy from church. We're on our 2nd litter now, our one doe redeeming herself mightily, dropping 7 babies for us this past Friday.

Anyway, I just wanted to give back a little to the community after gleaning so much useful info from you guys (and gals). We picked up a clamp tattoo set from eBay fairly cheap, so I figured I'd give it a try. (This is after trying to keep our first litter straight, when 5/7 were REW and they seemed to clean off their Sharpie every 4-6 days.) I put a simple 1-digit tattoo in each of the 7; the whole process took me about 15 minutes total, and not so much as a peep out of any of them. This was all done single-handedly, by the way, since my husband (who butchers for us) is squeamish about tattooing them. Go figure lol Point is, if there's anyone out there arguing with themselves over whether or not to invest in a tattoo set, go for it. Way less complicated than I remember from when I was younger, and a lot quicker then renewing marker periodically. Worst case scenario, you can always turn around and sell it on if it doesn't end up being useful for your operation.

Hopefully this helps at least 1 person out there

 

[Marinea]

Welcome to RT and thanks for that info! There are often folks asking about tattooing and this info will help.

 

[Cedar Point Rabbitry]

Anyway, I just wanted to give back a little to the community after gleaning so much useful info from you guys (and gals). We picked up a clamp tattoo set from eBay fairly cheap, so I figured I'd give it a try. (This is after trying to keep our first litter straight, when 5/7 were REW and they seemed to clean off their Sharpie every 4-6 days.) I put a simple 1-digit tattoo in each of the 7; the whole process took me about 15 minutes total, and not so much as a peep out of any of them. This was all done single-handedly. Point is, if there's anyone out there arguing with themselves over whether or not to invest in a tattoo set, go for it. Way less complicated than I remember from when I was younger, and a lot quicker then renewing marker periodically. Worst case scenario, you can always turn around and sell it on if it doesn't end up being useful for your operation.

Hopefully this helps at least 1 person out there

Helped me I probably should look into it, since I'm planning on showing

 

[michaels4gardens]

also--anyone who has seen/ performed, the "chipping process" would have to agree tattooing is much more humane. [just picture sticking an icepick into your rabbits back] JMHO--your choice to tattoo is the right one.

 

[unionjack9889]

I'm not actually familiar with chipping. I feel like I should Google it, but I'm a bit scared to now lol

 

[JenerationX]

The horse racing association which would probably be the best candidate for a scanned identification method (not to mention the sheer size of the animal relative to the chip size would make it "safer") rejected chipping because they've been found to move around, cause growths and cancers at the chip site, and reading can fail. Thoroughbreds get an inner lip tattoo (I watched that once and if you think an ear is tough.. oh boy!).. standardbreds get freeze branded on the neck.

Quick search of microchipping issues brought this up. http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/microchips-pet/

 

[michaels4gardens]

The horse racing association which would probably be the best candidate for a scanned identification method (not to mention the sheer size of the animal relative to the chip size would make it "safer") rejected chipping because they've been found to move around, cause growths and cancers at the chip site, and reading can fail. Thoroughbreds get an inner lip tattoo (I watched that once and if you think an ear is tough.. oh boy!).. standardbreds get freeze branded on the neck.

Quick search of microchipping issues brought this up. http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/microchips-pet/

JMHO, --I have tattooed thousands of rabbits, I have never noticed a pain reaction anything like what I see when the chipping tool is inserted into a rabbits back, when a rabbit who is otherwise calm, starts screaming when the tool is shoved into its back, -- I see a big problem with this procedure. [not to mention all the other problems mentioned in the article linked to in above post]

 

[unionjack9889]

I understand now. I haven't heard of chipping rabbits, just dogs and cats, that kind of thing. It doesn't sound incredibly pleasant, or even really practical for everyday use. I remember back when I had my 4H rabbits done, they all bled and carried on like we were notching their ears like cattle. I have the feeling it was probably just because they were a little older and the lady doing it wasn't overly concerned with missing vessels. I haven't watched horses get done, though I've owned a few that had them. I always assumed they gave them a local to numb it first, I think that's what my vet told me anyway. Useless fun fact for the day if you didn't know: TB's get a tat that starts with a letter (that's assigned to a specific year), followed by numbers. QH's (that raced) have numbers followed by a letter. Registered Arabians are tatt'ed with the last 6 of their reg (so I've heard, no actual experience with that one). I want to say Apps are also tattooed, but I've never owned one of them either, so that's just the grapevine talking

 

[michaels4gardens]

I understand now. I haven't heard of chipping rabbits, just dogs and cats, that kind of thing. It doesn't sound incredibly pleasant, or even really practical for everyday use. I remember back when I had my 4H rabbits done, they all bled and carried on like we were notching their ears like cattle. I have the feeling it was probably just because they were a little older and the lady doing it wasn't overly concerned with missing vessels. I haven't watched horses get done, though I've owned a few that had them. I always assumed they gave them a local to numb it first, I think that's what my vet told me anyway. Useless fun fact for the day if you didn't know: TB's get a tat that starts with a letter (that's assigned to a specific year), followed by numbers. QH's (that raced) have numbers followed by a letter. Registered Arabians are tatt'ed with the last 6 of their reg (so I've heard, no actual experience with that one). I want to say Apps are also tattooed, but I've never owned one of them either, so that's just the grapevine talking

If the person doing the tattooing will look at the ear before tattooing - it is easy to see the blood veins in most rabbits --and-- if the tattoo is placed just below, or just above center, and equal distance from the edges of the ear, it is more unlikely the rabbit will bleed, -- and-- if the rabbit is restrained so it can't jerk, you will get a nice, and "more or less" painless tattooing job.

 

[JenerationX]

I understand now. I haven't heard of chipping rabbits, just dogs and cats, that kind of thing. It doesn't sound incredibly pleasant, or even really practical for everyday use. I remember back when I had my 4H rabbits done, they all bled and carried on like we were notching their ears like cattle. I have the feeling it was probably just because they were a little older and the lady doing it wasn't overly concerned with missing vessels. I haven't watched horses get done, though I've owned a few that had them. I always assumed they gave them a local to numb it first, I think that's what my vet told me anyway. Useless fun fact for the day if you didn't know: TB's get a tat that starts with a letter (that's assigned to a specific year), followed by numbers. QH's (that raced) have numbers followed by a letter. Registered Arabians are tatt'ed with the last 6 of their reg (so I've heard, no actual experience with that one). I want to say Apps are also tattooed, but I've never owned one of them either, so that's just the grapevine talking

I've never seen an Appy with a tatt, just a few off track TBs, QHs, and one Arabian who also raced and went on to do endurance events. I watched a TB get tatted and it's basically some novacaine in the lip and they're annoyed by the vibration but not in pain. They're also very young when it's done since they start racing at 2, so... keeping still isn't exactly their forte.

 

[gardenbunny]

i'll have to get one, a male was accidentally put with the females after exercise pen time last year lol surprise litters