When it comes to keeping records, it’s extremely helpful to have a system for numbering and tattooing your rabbits. Once your herd begins to grow, it can get more difficult to keep track of individuals, especially within a litter. With a tattoo, you know exactly which rabbit you’re looking at to be able to record any data you need about them. Also, tattoos are required if you are going to enter your rabbit into an ARBA rabbit show.
When done correctly, tattoos are little more than a minor inconvenience for the rabbit, and equivalent to being stung by an insect. Unpleasant for a moment, yes, but ultimately quick to heal and minimally invasive.
There are two main options when it comes to tattooing your rabbits: a tattoo pen or a tattoo clamp. Personally, I use the tattoo pen. A clamp tattoo can still be effective, but I prefer the appearance of the pen-done tattoos.
The tattoo pen I use is the TBTAT2 from All Things Bunnies. This pen is very simple to use, charges easily via USBC, and it’s easy to find new needles for it. You can get them from All Things Bunnies, as well as Amazon. I purchased the Deluxe Kit, and it came with a carrying case, needles, ink wells, ink, the pen, a USBC cable, and numbing spray. (I also picked the color purple for fun!)
The numbing spray is a game changer when it comes to tattoos for me. The rabbits don’t even move as they are tattooed once the spray has been properly applied.
When my rabbits are 6 weeks old I will take them out of their mother’s cage and spray their left ear with the numbing spray. While that takes effect I will weigh the kit and then sex them to see if they are a buck or a doe. I will note their future number, weight, and sex and then wrap them securely in a towel or sheet for the tattoo.
Once they are wrapped, I will hold them steady while my sister turns on the tattoo pen and places the opposite end against their ear (the end without the needle). This way, they have time to get used to the vibration of the pen, as that seems to be what disturbs them more than anything. Doing it this way, if the vibration startles them, they won’t be ruining their tattoo.
Once the rabbit is calm with the vibrations, my sister will tattoo their ear. I am grateful for my sister’s help because her handwriting is much better than mine. The tattoos she’s able to do look really great. The process is quite fast, taking less than 5 minutes per rabbit.
Even if I am going to be culling a rabbit, I always tattoo them. Even if they won’t be sticking around the rabbitry forever, the information on their growth is important for evaluating their parents in the future.
As far as what the tattoo says, you can come up with your own system. The ARBA only insists that it use letters and numbers, no symbols. I personally give each of my breeders a unique letter. In the example photo above, the tattoo HK2 tells me that this rabbits parents are H for the dam (Hart), and K for the sire (King Dude). The number is less important as I just started at 1 for the first kit I happened to grab. This litter I had HK1, HK2, HK3, and HK4. So, the next time I tattoo Hart and Dude’s kits I will start at HK5 and go from there.
Tattooing your rabbits is extremely helpful in keeping your rabbitry organized, and I hope that this information was helpful on deciding what you’d like to do to manage your own herd!
