Labeling cages

[ladysown]

For the past two years I've been wanting to label my rabbit cages.

I've thought of a variety of ways to do it but have generally been stymied by the fact that my rabbits are not static. I move them from cage to cage frequently. I sell off older stock. I keep more younger stock than I need so I can grow them out. So having a name stuck to a cage seems fairly pointless.

For a while I used shower curtain rings with poker chips. They were colour coded by gender, as well has have a chip per half cup food eaten. I could easily move them from cage to cage AND the chips were easily replaced if I had to change out a name. VOILA! Thought my problem solved. Forgot to consider... some rabbits thought they were for tugging on (not so good for teeth). They rusted. The chips occasionally broke. Sometimes I couldn't reach the drill (hand press type) to make new chips so I got behind. NOT what I wanted at all.

So I did some more thinking.

When I rebuilt my cage I hung these metal things to each cage (actually my seven year old did that job).

I put a white envelope label on them and wrote on the name.

Lovely! (so I thought) I could put coloured stars on to denote how much they got to eat. Everyone had a name tag.

It didn't take long and...I ended up with this

again, not what I wanted.

So i was out in the store about a month ago and saw this

a big roll of magnetic tape. Only $6. Cool.
I snatched that up.

Went to the dollar store and found some small envelope labels.
Thought about it for a while, practiced with some labels to see what I wanted on them.

Decided on the following
name, month/year birth
parents(mom/dad)

the lovely thing is, when I have more than one rabbit in a cage I can do this:

or

or

(guinea pig cage ready for the winter months)

Safe from pee damage/won't rust.
Easy to replace.
Easy to make (son can help with cutting)
Easy peasy to put on.

I know at a glance which of the growers (the polish all look quite similar) is who and who they are from so I can watch my inbreeding coefficient. I can tell people when they come over how old certain rabbits are. It's just SO easy.

I'm pleased. Mind...today is the first day of having them so I'll have to give an update in a month or so to see how they hold up. But so far, I have high hopes.

They only thing I can't do is label the outside cages...need to think on that some further. I'd like something similar but just haven't gotten it figured yet.

 

[fishdip]

Nice idea.

 

[garden lady]

:goodjob: When I raised greyhounds the inside kennels were marked with tape on each door, but the outside runs were marked on a marker board inside the building we called the feed room. I knew who all the dogs were, but when other people worked there it was for them. If there were 12 pens then on the board it was marked who they were and how many in each pen. Mostly it was for how much food they got each day. Vaccinations and worming were in a book. You could erase the names and as the puppies or dogs were moved to different pens you just erased and put the new names.

 

[skysthelimit]

I numbered the feeders, and I have a list of who is in what cage. I also bought some of those old card catalog tags off of ebay. I slide a pink, blue or yellow (kits) tag into the holder, and it clips onto the feeder or somewhere on the cage with binder clips. When I move buns, I just move the holder.

 

[ladysown]

how do you keep them from nibbling the attachments? mine would see them as a challenge to remove, that I put there JUST FOR THEM.

 

[Demamma]

I have been thinking about this lately. This month I will have 4 NZ white does kindle. I can easily tell who my Hon Rosie is as she is the sweet one with a kind eye. The other three have the look of "dont eat me" in their eyes. Last thing I want is too mix them up. Hon Rosie and her little sister do not have tattooo's yet. I can not imagine what it is going to be like here in a month with all the white Popples. I have been trying to figure out how to make some cage tags.

 

[ottersatin]

I own/use Rabbit Register [Evans software]
With the program you can print cage cards
for every rabbit in your Herd.
I place and Clear shipping tape them
to the card holder on the back of the [J] feeder.
They are easily removed should you sell or move the inhabitant
to another cage. So for the cost of a minute bit of ink and some paper.
I use Pink for Doe's and Blue for Bucks
I have an easily read identity of the rabbit inside.
On the card is: Their name, Date of Birth, Sire and Dams name,
and you can customize the item to suit you.
I find this to be a most necessary tool in coping with Rabbit identity.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Demamma]

about 8 or so years ago I had Evans software and could not figure it out. do you know if it changed since then?

 

[skysthelimit]

how do you keep them from nibbling the attachments? mine would see them as a challenge to remove, that I put there JUST FOR THEM.

For some reason, mine's don't seem interested in them, or in anything else. They don't play with toys, etc. Just me and food.

Most are clipped on the space in front of the feeder. The one in the picture is a doe and her litter, so the card for the kits is clipped on the feeder, and the pink doe card is on the cage since she would the one to move.

 

[ollitos]

All of our pens are outside some I need fade-resistant, weather resistant and moveable nomenclature. Plus we move rabbits from one pen to another depending on how things are going.

Right now I'm getting by with a great big number written on the vinyl siding. Growout Pen #1 has blah blah in it.... Breeding does are in pens 1/2, 3/4 etc. No one else knows who is where, but I do.

I need to keep brainstorming it. I love the magnet tape idea but our pens are mostly vinyl and wood.

 

[skysthelimit]

Why not just use the plastic clip on cage tags. Write on with permanent marker

 

[Secuono]

You can also buy Chalk paint and use the little rectangles as tiny chalk boards.

 

[ladysown]

ah...now using that idea I could easily label outside cages, and just redo them when it rains....

 

[skysthelimit]

The sharpie will not come off the plastic tags when it rains. Check out the yellow one in my post. it gets rinsed, peed on, rinsed again, and the original writing has been on it since May.

 

[Piper]

The sharpie will not come off the plastic tags when it rains. Check out the yellow one in my post. it gets rinsed, peed on, rinsed again, and the original writing has been on it since May.

The yellow, is laminated? The self stick sheets, that you can cut to size?

 

[skysthelimit]

The sharpie will not come off the plastic tags when it rains. Check out the yellow one in my post. it gets rinsed, peed on, rinsed again, and the original writing has been on it since May.

The yellow, is laminated? The self stick sheets, that you can cut to size?

Not laminated, it is plastic, about the thickness of a drivers license, but more flexible. Some come preprinted for information, some blank. You get snaps with alligator clips to go on cages.

http://www.cagetags.com/faq.html

I get them at shows.