marking litters without tattooing

[MewsicLovr]

I know that the most common accepted method of marking rabbits is by tattoo. But we are a small rabbitry, and also a little tight on money right now, so we don't want to make that investment just yet. However, we are interested in marking litters so that when they reach 8 weeks we can weigh them and know which litter it was from so we can make better breeding choices.

I have read mixed reports of notching their ears, which was my first idea. These are meat rabbits so their appearance doesn't matter (except for their coat, we have plans for their fur so we don't want to mess that up). The other thing I found is some people use nail polish on their ears, but it seems like it would wear off fast and it may be toxic to the doe. Does anyone have any other suggestions? If we notch ears, what's a good way to go about doing that? <br /><br /> -- Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:31 pm -- <br /><br /> for reference, here is a 2 year old thread I was looking at (I didn't want to bump it) ... general consensus seemed to be notching wasn't a great idea, but I believe it mainly concerned show rabbits. Guess I'm just looking for updated opinions and/or alternate suggestions.

notching-t5905.html?hilit=notch#p57622

 

[Wheels]

I personally haven't tried but one of the rabbits I bought was marked with a rubber stamp in the ear - I don't know what type of ink it was but her number stayed readable for several weeks.

I've used sharpie pens and it really depends on how much the rabbits clean themselves and each other. Mine only lasted a week or two.

 

[kaye]

You can borrow a tattooer or like Wheels suggested just mark with a sharpie.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Some friends of mine "lost" their buck for a while because after breeding to a doe they grabbed the wrong rabbit and put him in the doe's cage. :roll:

So to prevent that mistake from happening again, they cut the tip off of every buck's ear. I was there for one such operation, and there was surprisingly little bleeding. He just used his Kershaw pocket knife.

The topic of marking rabbits with assorted substances has come up so many times here, that I can't believe I never thought to suggest livestock marking paint. The "paint stick" in the top left is only 99 cents and you can buy it in assorted colors. Or just buy one color and mark different locations.

http://www.valleyvet.com/c/farm-ranch-s ... paint.html

I personally think that tattooing is your best option. When you are ready, you can buy a tattoo pen for under $40, shipping included here:

http://kbtatts.weebly.com/

 

[akane]

You can use and reuse small animal and poultry tags. I was looking in to that when wanting to mark my meat rabbits without tattooing. I rather suck at it and have yet to make a readable tattoo. This is the info I got back from nationalband.com

For rabbit ears we have multiple style options. The 2 that resemble what your wanting are the 893 jiffys that come in aluminum or brass. And we also have the 1005-3 that are a mixed metal material called monel. The difference between the 2 is material and price so it's up to you.
Price is based on how many tags you order in total, you get price breaks at 500, 1000, 5000 & 10000. I will quote you at 1000 just to give you an idea of what you're looking at spending.

1000 893(alum): $50.40 + $50 for paint fill & approx. $8 shipping. (If you need the applicator, it is $7.35)
1000 1005-3: $97.05 + $50 for paint fill & approx $8 shipping. (Applicator is $18.90)

I was trying to find the page with those tags and it turns out they have added a rabbit specific ear tag. Bottom of this page
http://www.nationalband.com/moneltags.htm

 

[MewsicLovr]

This is a good discussion. I know we'll have to jump into tattooing eventually.

MSD, the paint stick idea is interesting. I'll look into that some more.

 

[Bandits Bunny Farm]

Right now I have 2 Mini Rex Litters. Each with 2 REW so I just use a black sharpie and write their moms tattoo in their ear.

I.e. one litters dam's name is Fat Girl. Her ear tattoo is FAT. So I just wrote FAT in their ear.

the other litter, the dam's name is Curly, her ear tattoo is CRL so I just wrote that in their ear.

in Fat Girls litter, therenare 2 black otter kits. One of which is sold. So I just wrote an "S" for Sold in the ear so as not to mix them up. When I sell the other one ill put the area code in their ear or something

itll be a heck of a lot easier to tell them apart when I get them real tattooed

 

[MewsicLovr]

For those saying sharpie, how long does that last about? About a week? And you do it on the inside of their ear?

 

[Bandits Bunny Farm]

For those saying sharpie, how long does that last about? About a week?

it lasts about 5 days... but I freshen it up every couple of days.

And you do it on the inside of their ear?

yes but sometimes they get squirmy and the sharpie gets on the back of their ear and on your hand :|

 

[akane]

Try clamp tattoo ink... I spend weeks scrubbing that stuff off. It's just an utter mess, no matter what I do the tattoo isn't readable, and most of my rabbits scream and flail wildly which really helps the mess and getting a clear tattoo. If we decide to show I'm going to try to convince my husband to use a pen tattoo in their ears. He is very squeamish about anything that causes the animals discomfort but I have no artistic skill and horrible handwriting.

You can get some tattooed at shows. There's usually someone available or a helpful individual. Not useful for an entire litter but if you are keeping one breeder, selling one to a person that shows, or want to enter your best one of the litter in shows it's not too hard to haul them along and get someone to do the tattoo. Some breeders might also help you out if you are buying stock from them.

 

[Bandits Bunny Farm]

You can get some tattooed at shows. There's usually someone available or a helpful individual. Not useful for an entire litter but if you are keeping one breeder, selling one to a person that shows, or want to enter your best one of the litter in shows it's not too hard to haul them along and get someone to do the tattoo. Some breeders might also help you out if you are buying stock from them.

or you can ask a breeder near you to tattoo them. I asked the breeder I got 3/4 of my Mini Rex's from (I have 4 mini rex's :lol: ) if she'll tattoo the babies in 3 weeks (when theyre 6 weeks) they'll probably charge a small fee (mine is charging $3 per rabbit).

 

[MamaSheepdog]

you can ask a breeder near you to tattoo them.

I do tattoos for a girl that lives nearby frequently. I don't charge her and I also don't charge people when I do them at shows.

 

[Zass]

you can ask a breeder near you to tattoo them.

I do tattoos for a girl that lives nearby frequently. I don't charge her and I also don't charge people when I do them at shows.

I have friend who will do them free for me, but I dislike the clamp style tats.

I was paying $1 to have them done with a pen at 4-H shows, but now I have my own KBtatts pen, and having tested it on myself, I know it won't hurt the bunnies too much.

I would be afraid of does and littermates "grooming off" a metal ear tag.

 

[Bandits Bunny Farm]

@ MamaSheepDog :yougotpm:

 

[3mina]

Anytime I've tried to use a sharpie it's lasted less than an hour usually. My does are, ah, enthusiastic about cleaning. They even get tattoo ink smears off fairly quickly. Once I get more uniform colours (ha!) going in the herd I'm going to have to break down and get some ink for my clamp and an alphabet set too as just numbers doesn't work for me.

 

[Sagebrush]

I am going to go with a KBtatt pen as well. I have fairly decent handwriting so should not be a problem.

 

[WildWolf]

I'm using magic markers. Just a block of color on the inside tip of each rabbit's ear. For mine, I renew it when it's almost not noticable. That usually happens after 3 or 4 weeks.

Maybe mine last longer due to the type of marker I'm using? Or my willingness to let the mark be faded. My rabbits do groom their ears vigorously, and I've noticed some rabbits have a bit of color on their paws the day or day after I mark them.

 

[Show Me Rabbits]

You can use and reuse small animal and poultry tags. I was looking in to that when wanting to mark my meat rabbits without tattooing. I rather suck at it and have yet to make a readable tattoo. This is the info I got back from nationalband.com

For rabbit ears we have multiple style options. The 2 that resemble what your wanting are the 893 jiffys that come in aluminum or brass. And we also have the 1005-3 that are a mixed metal material called monel. The difference between the 2 is material and price so it's up to you.
Price is based on how many tags you order in total, you get price breaks at 500, 1000, 5000 & 10000. I will quote you at 1000 just to give you an idea of what you're looking at spending.

1000 893(alum): $50.40 + $50 for paint fill & approx. $8 shipping. (If you need the applicator, it is $7.35)
1000 1005-3: $97.05 + $50 for paint fill & approx $8 shipping. (Applicator is $18.90)

I was trying to find the page with those tags and it turns out they have added a rabbit specific ear tag. Bottom of this page
http://www.nationalband.com/moneltags.htm

I like the idea of the tags. Can you show a rabbit with a tag or do the shows only accept tattooed rabbits?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Can you show a rabbit with a tag or do the shows only accept tattooed rabbits?

No tags. ARBA rules state that all rabbits shown must have "a permanent ear tattoo" in the left ear.

Cavys get ear tags though. Maybe you should get some Guinea pigs to satisfy your desire for tags! :cute:

 

[Show Me Rabbits]

Can you show a rabbit with a tag or do the shows only accept tattooed rabbits?

No tags. ARBA rules state that all rabbits shown must have "a permanent ear tattoo" in the left ear.

Cavys get ear tags though. Maybe you should get some Guinea pigs to satisfy your desire for tags! :cute:

No Guinea pigs for me! lol