Marking a rabbit for identification?

[Treelove]

Is there a good way to mark a young rabbit to identify it for someone to come pick up that rabbit when I'm not there? My friend wants our one female baby and a couple of males. I don't want to separate them from mom to another cage right before we go on a trip, and my friend probably won't be able to tell the gender. So I was thinking I could mark the girl somehow. I've heard of cat kittens being marked with nail polish like on a paw or something. Would that work okay? Or any other ideas?

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Getting their ears Tattooed

 

[rockyhillrabbits]

For temp ear marking I use a sharpie and do like D1, D2, B1,B2, etc until I'm ready to tattoo them. It works pretty good, just have to touch it up every few days.

 

[Treelove]

For temp ear marking I use a sharpie and do like D1, D2, B1,B2, etc until I'm ready to tattoo them. It works pretty good, just have to touch it up every few days.

Thanks! This is what I decided to do. I made a "temporary tattoo" with the symbol. lol

 

[Olbunny]

If I may ask here. How do you tattoo ears ?

 

[rockyhillrabbits]

If I may ask here. How do you tattoo ears ?

I use a battery operated tattoo pen. There are several different ones but they all have the same concept. I clean the ear with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol. I use numbing spray and it makes it easier on the rabbits and on me, wait a couple minutes, then turn on the pen and dip in the ink so ink gets up in the needle and just tattoo inside the left ear. There are clamp styles that punch holes in the ear but after reviewing those I decided to go with a pen style. I raise pedigreed Rex and plan on doing some showing. Tattoos are required for showing and they are a good way to let others know where that rabbit came from, sometimes. I use my rabbitry initials RH followed by first initial of the dam's name then a number for the kit. So when I tattoo this first litter it'll go RHS1 because their dam is Snowflake. I just have to be careful not to get repeats with my breeder names lol.
It's pretty easy to do. Hardest part is keeping them still, which the numbing spray helps a LOT and I normally wrap them in a towel with their ear sticking out. Keeping their face covered seems to help keep them still too. I also use a balm afterwards to ease any irritation.

 

[Olbunny]

What about the clamp style did you not like ? And thanks for the info

 

[rockyhillrabbits]

What about the clamp style did you not like ? And thanks for the info

I have never used the clamp style, but I researched it and heard from others who use it. I know others have had rabbits jerk away and tear their ears. That was the biggest reason I never used them. The clamp style might be quicker, but I like the way the pen style tattoos look. It takes me about 10 minutes per rabbit, from the time I apply the numbing spray to the time I'm done with putting on the balm. I just ordered a kit for $73 and that includes the pen, ink, skin marking brush (I never use that), replacement needles, cleaning kit, case, numbing spray, and balm.

 

[Treelove]

Update: I had marked one ear with a sharpie. Only a few days later my friend came to pick up bunnies and couldn't find any markings. Maybe I did it wrong? I wish I'd gone with nail polish on the claws like I'd originally planned.