"One of the things that gets me (okay, I admit the list is long) about the back and forth struggle over proper rabbit husbandry is that both parties – the house rabbit side and breeder side – feel pressured to be “perfect.” We feel pressured to paint a picture that both sides know is unrealistic and unattainable. And I admit, I’m not immune to that. In fact, I put unrealistic expectations on myself – I don’t need anyone else to do it for me. Ideally, my rabbitry would always be as spotless and eye-catching as in the photo above. Do you see the sparkle? This was taken after one of our deep cleans in 2013. I work HARD to keep as much of that condition as I can in between major cleanings, but I often feel maxed out and exhausted over the things I don’t have time for. The reality is that we’re working with animals. All of us are. We may like our floors spotless, our dishes clean, our laundry hung in the yard, and our beds freshly made. Animals have a different idea, and it takes a super-human to maintain an animal’s living conditions as if you might eat off the floor. Anyone who is a mom probably understands where I’m coming from. Some days, you really feel like you have it all together. Other days, there’s dirty laundry in the sink, food on the couch, and a naked baby under the kitchen table. That doesn’t make you less of a parent; it doesn’t make you less of an pet owner. It’s life, and it’s the same one we’re all living. So if you expect to come in my rabbitry, take off your shoes, and snack on some finger foods, let me warn you now. It might be best to leave your snacks in the car and pull your boots back on. Here’s 10 things you might find in a real rabbitry: 1. Poop. Lots of it. It might be in the drop trays of the cages, it might be in a food dish, it might be on the floor. It might be under your foot. If it’s not there yet, wait five minutes. If you’re going to raise “animal awareness,” it’s important to realize that poop is good and healthy. If the animal isn’t standing in it, there’s no concern. It’s best to accept it, scoop it up, and move on. 2. Healthy animals. Before you crucify the breeder for the poop that either already exists or will within minutes, take a glance at the animals in the barn. Do they appear healthy? Are their eyes bright and wide? Are they active? Is their fur shiny and soft? If the animals are healthy, there’s a good chance they’re well cared for and loved. Even if their bottles don’t feature Brita filters. 3. Sick animals. Before it becomes a headline, consider this: Animals get sick. Animals get old. Ask the breeder what steps they’re taking to correct the issue, but don’t expect any vet references. Rabbit savvy vets are far and few between, and breeders have spent decades honing their first aid skills. One or two downtrodden animals aren’t a reflection of the breeder’s husbandry. 4. Dead animals. Sometime last summer, I walked into a dairy barn and found a small calf laying in the middle aisle, covered in a blanket. Among further inspection, he was dead. An experience like that definitely pulls on your heartstrings and may appear sad or cruel, but there is a difference between dead animals and decaying animals. Just like animals get sick or get old, an animal occasionally dies. Sometimes it’s conveniently after the owner arrives home for the evening and can deal with the “arrangements.” Other times, it happens when the owner is running out the door, already late to work. We can’t time these things. We don’t want them to happen either. But sometimes there is a block of time between the death and when the owner can properly dispose of the body. If PETA breaks down the door before disposal happens…well, it looks worse than it is. 5. Fur. If you visit in the spring or fall, wear your hair-resistant body suit or you’re in for a real treat. Rabbits molt twice a year, meaning they let their ENTIRE COAT loose and then run around, shaking and kicking every fiber into unreachable places (at least, this is what I imagine happens as soon as I leave the house). If the fur is below eyeball level, my shop vac will suck it up as soon as I arrive home. If it’s over your head…well, that’s what we call “redneck insulation.” 6. Hay. In no place specific. Just everywhere. At least it’s clean. 7. Medicine, syringes, and needles. It doesn’t mean the rabbits are sick. This is how I keep them healthy; I stay prepared. There is a rabbit waiting until each bottle expires. If I’m a day late to restock, I’m a rabbit down. 8. Dust. I like to pass the “clean finger test” as much as the next person, but there are more important things in life. Like dealing with all that poop I mentioned. 9. None of these things. ”Whaaaat? But you just said…” I know, I know! The most important thing to remember is that these are all realities of raising rabbits (or any animal). At any given time, any one (or more) of the items on this list might be present. But they shouldn’t always be present. There will be poop – but that doesn’t mean we stop cleaning it. There may be healthy animals – that doesn’t mean we stop caring for them. There may be dead animals – that doesn’t mean it happens every day. There may be hay – I still sweep it. There’s probably dust – I still clean it. There is probably medicine, syringes, and needles…they’re the exception. They’re always present. My point is that the reality of raising animals is that it’s a constant circle of cleaning and care. There are days I look around and think, “What a mess!” But that’s why there are days I spend 14 hours on my knees scrubbing the crevices I had never noticed before. Farmers, ranchers, and breeders are just normal, everyday people. In this day and age, they’re not only maintaining animal projects but often keep one or more full- or part-time jobs outside the animals to make ends meet. We should absolutely strive to meet standards of cleanliness and “perfection.” But we’re humans and sometimes we fall short. That leads me to… 10. Passion. A good animal shepherd isn’t negligent or self-serving. He isn’t malicious or unaware. Somewhere along the way, he loved an animal and never looked back. Even if he can’t dust today, he will tomorrow. And it’s not because anyone else told him to." --Rabbit Ranching http://rabbitranching.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/through-the-window/ The above article was taken from http://rabbitranching.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/through-the-window/ It's a very good read, and quite funny at parts. Any rabbit breeder, or even pet owner should take a look. It's a very true and accurate article. I personally try to make sure my barn is clean when people are coming over to pick up rabbits, but sometimes it's just not. Life gets in the way, and everyone needs to be aware of that. I am a very clean person when it comes to my barn. I sweet every time I step inside, because I can't stand stepping on poop, hay or shavings. That's just me. That's how I am. However, that being said sometimes the hay is accumulating on the floor because I just get too busy to sweep it up. That's life. The faster everyone excepts that, the easier it is.
My cages get cleaned out every 5-7 days, depending on weather, my schedule and the rabbit. Some can go a lot longer than others. Some rabbits I feel like I'm cleaning them out daily, others I have to remind myself to clean out. I like the rabbits that choose a corner, and only go in said corner. Makes my life a heck of a lot easier! I just have to clean out the part they use, like Wind. He only goes to the bathroom on one side of his cage. So I just scoop the side every few days and move on. Every few weeks I'll clean the entire cage, but he honestly gets angry with me when I clean the entire cage. Healthy animals are happy animals! Healthy and Happy animals make happy owners! I am allergic to hay and dust so I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to those two things, but even with being allergic, I do still get busy and unable to keep both things pretty clean. Rabbits poop. Plain and simple. Ya clean them out, and five seconds later there's poop in the tray/cage. Trust me, it's a pain in the butt. It's as if they are doing it just spite. It's like 'Oh you just cleaned the cage did you?! Well, here's some poop just because I can'. -_- I find it very funny what (s)he says about Fur (#5) and Hay (#6). It's very accurate about the fur. They do not even remotely sit still while molting. If anything, they move MORE, just to be a pain. Very true about hay. It's in no specific place, just everywhere. I like the poop (#1) and dust (#8) part too. Most importantly; Passion. Whether you are a breeder or pet owner, we all have passion and love for your animal(s). If you didn't, you probably wouldn't have the animal(s) then. So just because you notice some poop, hay, fur, dust or anything else around our barns, that does not mean we don't care about our animals. It also most certainly does not mean we don't keep a clean area. My favourite part of the article? Redneck Insulation. ;) ♥
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Culling can vary on the breeder. However the term culling refers to 'removing unwanted animals from your herd'. Whether that be to kill or pet out, depends completely on the breeder. Even selling show/brood animals to other breeders is culling. I believe culling should be to kill them, so when I say culling, that is what I mean. There are enough animals that are in shelters and rescues (which I work with a few different dog rescues and SPCA's) that I don't want to be contributing to that. I also don't want to contribute to the over population of pet rabbits. There are enough backyard breeders out there to do that. I also don't want to sell PET rabbits to people because that's how you get the backyard breeders who then over populate the rabbit world and also take the sales of actual breeders. You also can't guarantee that the animals will be properly taken care of or anything. One way to know, is to ask a lot of questions. If they don't want to answer them all or seem fed up with the questions, I pass on them. By selling to pet homes, yes there are some that will take great care of them and that's great; however you risk selling to the ones who think 'hey I've got a male and female, let's breed some mix bunnies' and most of the time, they do it because they want the money, or they think 'hey they are cute and tiny as babies'. That is also how you get the ones who think they can sell them at three weeks old. It is NEVER OK to sell a rabbit at three weeks old. They are JUST starting to eat pellets at that age, but ARE still nursing! 6 weeks I think is still early and prefer 7, but 6-8 weeks you can wean them. I personally leave them in until about 10-12 weeks old.
Rabbits are not an animal you should buy as babies because they are 'cute and small' because news flash; they grow up. I do not sell for Easter, Valentines Day, Christmas or anything like that. I do have the occasional rabbit for sale to pet homes but depending on age, will only keep them for a certain amount of time before they 'leave'. Don't think that I always thought this. No, when I started out I sold pets because I didn't want to cull. I send mine to a butcher who buys them and then sells the meat, or I take them to the zoo where they are humanely put down and fed to the animals. I believe that if you cull, the animals should then be used, not just thrown away. If I have a rabbit for sale that says Show/Breeding, then that means it is a rabbit that I would use in my own breeding program and show herd. I try to label them correctly. Just because an animal is 'showable' (meaning no DQ's), does NOT mean it is SHOW QUALITY. This is one of my biggest pet peeves in this hobby. Just because it doesn't have anything to DQ it from show, doesn't mean you should show it, especially when it clearly will be faulted on a lot of things, i.e: long shoulders, peak soon, hollow, pinched, weak in depth, course fur, soft density, etc. I can go on for hours! These are all things you do NOT want and if shown, will be faulted and do poorly. I hate going on another breeders website and seeing all these animals they have listed as 'show quality' when clearly; they should NOT be shown. I am no way implying that I am perfect or know everything, however I know the standard and know what the animals are suppose to look like. I hate seeing this because then they are ripping some innocent person off who doesn't know better... Especially when they overprice their animals!!! Goodness, I can't stand it!! OK, rant over on that. Back to culling! I have no problem with people killing. It is more humane to the animal then selling them to someone who isn't going to take proper care for them just to end up in a shelter or going from home to home. I don't like selling to pet homes because 1. I've noticed a lot of people are crazy and won't really give me the light of day. They just want the rabbit and to be gone. 2. They don't want to pay my prices. Well then, you know what? Go to a pet store to get some unhealthy, no idea where it came from, mixed breed rabbit for double. (Do NOT get me started on pet stores!!!) 3. If I sell a rabbit to a pet home, it usually means it is not a good show rabbit or even brood animal. So I don't want the person to then later on sell it and it go to some 4H'er who doesn't know or realize it isn't going to do well. And 5. I don't like to see them a few weeks or months later posted for sale again, especially when they are then doubled in price or the price was higher than what they paid. I will be honest with people when selling a rabbit. I pose them correctly in photo's and will take multiple photo's from all sorts of angles. I am straight up with what is good and bad, what I like and what I don't or what I'd fault them on. I hate hate hate!!!! when someone isn't honest with another breeder, youth member or new breeder about things. It is just unnecessary and rude. ESPECIALLY when it is a youth breeder, new breeder or 4H'er! I also can't stand when someone posts a rabbit as '4H quality' what the heck does that mean?!?!?! Sorry, but it frustrates me since I am in 4H. If it isn't good enough to show with ARBA, then it shouldn't be good enough for 4H. We should be helping and promoting 4H, especially the rabbit project and should be helpful in making sure they get good quality show animals! They deserve to show quality just as much as ARBA show'ers do. I may put that it is 4H quality, but I also put show (as in ARBA show) quality as well.. When I say 4H 'quality', I mean that it is a friendly and easy to handle rabbit and should do well with people looking at it and showmanship. If I wouldn't show it myself, I won't sell it to be shown, especially not to some unknowing 4H'er. Rant over on that! ;) With culling, I think people need to be better educated on it.. It cost less to get rabbits to 'sale age' than a calf. You also get a better profit out of them too. You pay hundreds of dollars on a little calf just to then spend another hundred dollars on them just to get a low profit. PLUS! Rabbits can have 6+ (depending on breed and size) in a litter, unlike a cow who have one, maybe two (twins). Rabbits are pregnant shorter than cows, and you can sell them sooner than a calf. If they are raised humanely and properly, and then culled humanely; there is nothing wrong with it. They were created for this purpose, it is part of the food chain. It is life. Now, I won't go around talking with someone about it if they don't want to. I also don't push culling on anyone. It is up to you as the breeder, however, please do the research on it before you make up your mind. I do believe to be a successful breeder you need to cull. If you are a breeder who just sells everything off to pet homes, you will get so full that you will eventually have more pets that are for sale, than actually helpful to you, show/brood animals. You waste a lot of food and money waiting for someone to come around to buy your pet and waste a cage on them, that could have gone to another animal that would have been useful and helpful. I don't like selling them as live feeders as I do not think that is nice or humane for them. There are different ways of culling, some more gruesome than others. I do not like those ways, and probably will never be able to do those ways. I don't like blood! I could never process them myself either... Rabbits have a purpose, and their original purpose was meat. I don't like just culling and then throwing out.. I'd rather take them to the zoo (they are killed and then fed to the animals, not fed live) or send them to someone who will process and eat, or feed to animals, etc. It's a waste otherwise... If it can't help improve my herd than I cull it. I look at the whole package when culling. If the animal has a clear DQ or major fault it goes. Type and fur are super important. I will, however, occasionally substitute smaller things for the "greater good". I really look for everything when picking who stays and goes. If it doesn't have a balanced body, and has any poor traits - shoulder issues, bad sloping, very narrow loin, pinched hindquarters - then it goes. If it has fur that is of a lesser quality than I already have, then it goes; unless its type is stunning. I will keep some if they are exceptionally strong in one area - very tight shoulders, or a very wide loin/hindquarter, or very dense fur. I will also tolerate a very moderately hollow loin, and a slightly early peak on the topline. Absolutely no shoulder dips, ever! If the animal can't help take my herd forward than it leaves. However, it does depend on the breed a bit for me. If you do not agree with culling, that is fine; it is your choice. Please do feel free to contact me with your opinions and views on it, or if you'd like to find out more. I'd love to hear others opinions on it. Please, be respectful though and not rude. These are just my opinions and views on the subject. 10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD EAT RABBIT MEAT!
Back in the 1940s and 1950s rabbit meat was as common for dinner as chicken is today. It is the meat they got many people and their children through the lean times of the Depression. They lost their popularity after Big AGRA, who wanted to get maximum profits with the cheapest bottom line using the government endorse chemicals and handouts. Because of this rabbits didn’t make sense. So why even eat rabbit meat now? Below you will find a few reasons why you should consider adding rabbit meat to your diet. Raise some rabbits in your lots, yards, or pastures. Become closer to your food supply know what you eat! 1. It is one of the best white meats available on the market today. 2. The meat has a high percentage of easily digestible protein. 3. It contains the least amount of fat among all the other available meets. 4. Rabbit meat contains less calorie value than other meats. 5. Rabbit meat is almost cholesterol free and therefore heart patient friendly. 6. The sodium content of rabbit meat is comparatively less than other meats. 7. The calcium and phosphorus contents of this meat or more than any other meats. 8. The ratio of me to bone is high meaning there is more edible meat on the carcass than even a chicken. 9. Rabbit meat with the many health benefits does not have a strong flavor and is comparable to chicken but not identical. 10. Rabbits are one of the most productive domestic livestock animal there is. Rabbits can produce 6 pounds of meat on the same feed and water as the cow will produce 1 pound of meat on the same feed and water. So as you can see there are many health benefits to eating rabbit meat. It is healthy for you and cheap to produce. Why not try to incorporate some rabbit meat into your diet today! Try it you’ll like it! Use rabbit as a replacment for chicken in any chicken recipe. Check out our tested recipes on our Rabbit Recipe Page we add new ones all the time! Know what you eat screw the big AGRA and GROW YOUR OWN! http://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/04/06/10-reasons-why-you-should-eat-rabbit-meat/ *Taken from the link above* Though I do not eat rabbit meat personally, I see no problem with others doing so. They were originally created for said purpose. We have deviated from the real reasons why rabbits were raised many years ago. They were raised as a food source for humans. Humans are the ones that chose to make them pets, whether you agree or not or eat them or not is completely up to you. However, here is a good article on rabbit meat. http://thecityfarmer.org/livestock/rabbits/products/meat/ How to Get a Perfect TattooClamp Tattoo*Please keep in mind that this is completely my opinion and how I personally tattoo. Find a way that works for you and ask around for how other breeders tattoo* -Prepare yourself. Make sure you have the needles in the right way and not upside down. Make sure they are clean and in the right order. Have your ink ready, I leave the lid on but unscrewed just in case the rabbit jumps and hits it. -Put the tiles in the clamp. I then to make sure it is in the right order and going in the right direction do a practice tattoo on a piece of paper or cardboard. -Use slippery surface (so that the rabbit can run and move, but not injure themselves from grabbing onto a mat or anything like that; plus you then don't have to hold onto them which can be risky) -Check sizing and location -Apply ink (I use roll on) -Clamp the Tattoo (I hold closer to the bottom to get better squeezability *If that's a real word*. You can use more pressure down low) -Squeeze for about 10-20 seconds. Make sure you are right through the ear, but about 10-20 seconds is usually long enough -Check the ear to make sure you got the needles right through; that's the ideal thing you want -Apply more ink -I then check the back to see if I can see the ink go threw.. but usually if before that you can see threw, then you're good! I put ink on before and after. It is not necessary though. I get complimented a lot on how nice, clean and dark my tattoo's come out. Well, this is how I tattoo. I do have two videos available of me tattooing. If you are interested in seeing it for a visual aid then just send me an email. I do NOT clean the ear before hand with alcohol. I did this once and found my ink/tattoo did not last and faded. I also do not use any balms or anything afterwards to 'seal' the ink in. Always make sure to clean up afterwards. I use a tooth brush and rubbing alcohol to clean my needles. I place them in the alcohol and let sit for a minute or so and then hold them and scrub with an old toothbrush to get between the needles. Afterwards, I dry with a towel or paper towel/kleenex. Pen Tattoo*Please keep in mind that this is what I have learned from other breeders who use the pen. Find a way that works for you and ask around for how other breeders tattoo* -First and foremost, you need to get a feeling for the pen. Get a banana, yes a banana and practice, practice, practice on it! It is very similar to the rabbits ear. Get a feel for the writing and movement of the pen. -Prepare yourself. Make sure everything is within easy reach. Fill your ink wells with ink. -Secure the rabbit. Make sure the rabbit is securely held prior to starting. It is highly recommended that you have someone else hold the animal for you. A lot of breeders will wrap the rabbit in a towel as well. -Ink your pen. Once the rabbit is held securely, get your pen ready to go. (You don’t want to ink it too early or the ink will dry out.) Turn the pen on BEFORE dipping it in the ink well. This will get the ink all up in the needles evenly. Dip just the end of the needles into the well! The motion of the pen will draw the ink into the center of the needles, where it should be. Never dip it in so far that the ink gets on to the pen head. -Tattoo. Hold the rabbit’s left ear open and against something solid, like your finger. Hold the needle at a slight angle to the ear and tattoo with a gentle pressure. You do NOT want to push the needle all the way through the ear; you’re just trying to insert ink right below the surface of the skin. Re-ink your tattoo pen whenever it runs out until you've finished the tattoo. -Clean your needles. Never leave your needles without being cleaned, you do not want the ink drying. There are special brushes you can get for easier cleaning. Record the TattooAlways record your tattoo's. You need the tattoo for pedigrees, but I also find it helpful you keep a record of the tattoo and then colour, DOB, and parents as well separately in my binder of pedigrees, just to have them all together and in case I sold a rabbit. This way I can always go back and know if I've done a tattoo or not before, without having to dig through pedigrees.
Check out Parts 1 & 2 in Rabbit Tattooing Choosing a TattooHow To Choose A Tattoo For Your Rabbit.
Are you sitting there, scratching your head wondering what you put in your rabbits ear for a tattoo? Whether a new or old time rabbit breeder, we've all been there at some point, and may still occasionally wonder if we should change our ways. To show your rabbit under ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association), then they must have a tattoo in their left ear. It must be eligible though, or else the judge can disqualify it from competition. So always check your tattoo's prior to a show! Does ARBA Assign Tattoo's? No, ARBA does not assign tattoo's. They do not tell you what your rabbit's tattoo needs to be, nor how you have to do it. There is no list of previous tattoo's or anything like that. It is completely up to you what you do for tattoo's! Well, almost. There are a few things to follow. It use to be that you could do anything for a tattoo, whether it be a heart or a smiley face. However, the problem is that secretaries must put these tattoo's into the computer prior to the show, and can be hard if you did a drawing or something. So ARBA came out a few years ago that tattoo's must be alpha-numeric, meaning you can only use letters A-Z and numbers 0-9. Other than that you get to choose your rabbits tattoo and you get to choose the system you use. As long as it fits in the ear and the judge can read it, it can be anything from ABC, 123, H, 5, A98 or BUBBLES. You can use as many numbers or letters as you wish up to twenty characters including spaces, and you do not need both. *Another note, if using names remember that nothing vulgar, offensive or rude can be done. Keep it clean! How Do I Choose What To Tattoo? Well, that is completely up to you. Pick a system that another breeder uses, or come up with your own. There are a lot out there. Some a lot more confusing than others. Some breeders will just do the rabbits name or partial name. Their tattoos look like BUDDY, BUGS or BEN. Others like to use a fancy code system, usually mixing letters and numbers together. The most frequent, and one that I personally use, is the parents initials. So Bugs (sire) and Lily (dam) litter would be BL1, BL2, BL3, etc. What gets confusing is when you use a code that involves things like number for month, even for buck, uneven for doe and things like that. If you can find something that makes sense to you, that's what is important! I get really confused when someone talks about how they're using a system that's like.... number for month born, B or D for gender, number for year born, number in litter, maybe even parents initials in there or something. This confuses me, but it is what works for some and when explained properly can make a lot of sense and seems like a good way to remember without looking at pedigrees. Another system that works well is either using your rabbitry initials or breed initials plus numbers. So my rabbitry initials are MR. MR1 would be the first baby tattooed, where MR57 would be the 57th tattooed. Same with breed initials. So the Havana's would be HV, Mini Rex being MR. HV48 would be the 48th Havana born and MR31 would be the 31st Mini Rex born. It is completely up to you how and what you choose to tattoo your rabbits. If I only keep one or two from a litter then I may actually just use the rabbits name for the tattoo. Check out Part 1 & 2 in Rabbit Tattooing! Why & HowWhy Does My Rabbit Need A Tattoo?
The answer is quite simple. Identification. Rabbit tattoo's are an easy and simple way of keeping track of rabbits. To show an animal under ARBA, it must be tattooed in it's left ear. Tattoo's must be clean and eligible, or else the judge may disqualify it from competition should (s)he not be able to clearly read the tattoo. Ask yourself this. How am I going to know which rabbit is mine once I put it on the show table? If we didn't tattoo our rabbits, there really is no way of knowing. Yes, we could all stand in front of the coop in which we placed our rabbits, but what if you have multiple in the class? And then the judges move animals around as they look at them. By using tattoo's, we can know afterwards that we have indeed taken the right animal off the table. Just in case you are new and confused what a rabbit tattoo is, it is a permanent marking in the rabbits left ear. Why the left ear? The left ear is used because the left side/ear is most commonly tagged in livestock. Livestock that are branded, are branded on the left hip; that way when walking through the stock yard the brand is facing the announcer, also the brand inspector that is up by the announcer/auctioneer. The right ear is used for registration. When you register your animal under ARBA, they are given a registration number. Sometimes the registrar will put the full number in their ear, others will just do the registration symbol (®). Just like dog owners/breeders use microchips (and if a registered dog, then a tattoo as well in the dogs ear), or cattle ranchers put plastic tags in the cows ear or how race horses have a tattoo on their neck (registration number) and marking on their lip, we as rabbit breeders use tattoos in the ear to identify our animals. HOW Do You Tattoo? Well, again the answer is quite simple; you need the proper tattoo equipment. When rabbit tattoo's first started, the only available option was to use a pair of prongs called a clamp that you slide tiles into. The tiles have needles in them that make up the letter or number you want. You clamp the needles down into the ear and you have your tattoo. Of course, you needed ink as well! It creates a short term, sudden pain to the rabbits ear. Now a days, there are battery operated pen style tattooers as well. This pen has a cluster of needles at the end which– with a very similar motion to that of an electric toothbrush – inserts ink just below the surface of the skin. The needles do not go all the way through the ear, unlike with the clamp. Very similar to a human tattoo gun. I will give my personal opinion on both. I use the clamp. Why? Because I find the tattoos last longer and is a lot cleaner and eligible than the pen. It is quicker and to me, less pain and agony on the rabbit. I put the ink in the ear, line up the clamp, press and hold for a few seconds (about 10 seconds) and release. I then put more ink on top just to be sure. It is quick and easy, over in seconds. Whereas with the pen you do a letter, then you get more ink and do another and so on. It takes longer and forces the rabbit to endure the pain longer, unlike the clamp. There's also a buzzing that the pen makes because of the needles which I found/find the rabbits hate. You also have to think, if the rabbit moves that's it. The pen doesn't move with the rabbit, so you may now have a line down the ear. I also find that the pen tattoo's fade very quickly, because they only go right under the skin where the clamp goes right through. The pen can be handy if you need to touch up a tattoo though. With the pen, the needles are easy to break especially if you have a rabbit that does not wish to stay still. You also need someone to hold the animal for you, where I do my clamp tattoo's completely alone. I've also never needed to replace any of the letters or numbers for my *old* clamp. Clamps are more pricey, but I find a lot more worth it. When I bought my first tattoo kit, I bought the pen. I used it once and hated it. I immediately posted it for sale and was lucky to find a fellow breeder who had bought a clamp kit off another breeder and was wanting the pen so we ended up trading. My clamp is old, probably 20 some years old and still works perfectly! Some breeders really like the pen. It is completely a personal opinion. You can get all the feedback on each that you want, but the decision is ultimately yours, and only yours. Buy one, try it out and if you don't like it then sell it and buy the other. I will say though, if you go with the pen get the KB Tatts. It was designed by a professional *human* tattoo artist and rabbit breeder duo and brings in aspects from both sides. It is much quieter *with the buzzing* than other brands and I have heard a lot of very positive feedback from other breeders on it, as well as a lot of people switching from other brands to the KB Tatt. They also come in a wider selection of colours! My clamp is the Stone 5/16" with ear release. I love it. However, I do recommend the Grand champion II® Registrar Kit from Klubertanz.com. It includes 2 sets of digits 0-9, one complete set of letters A-Z, tongs, ink, brush, and plastic holding box with digit tray for a very reasonable price. It is the only kit that I have found online that includes letters. No other kit includes letters, they all have numbers but no letters. And trust me, it can be quite expensive to buy the letters or numbers. Some full set can be upwards to thirty dollars, and individually close to two fifty each. You also have to be careful because not all sizes fit in all clamps. The only reason I am looking at getting a new tattoo clamp is because mine is missing a couple letters and I can't find the right size for it. I personally do not agree that pen styles are neater than the clamp. Unless you have AMAZING hand writing and a passed out rabbit, I don't see how they are neater than the straight, pre-done tiles for the clamps. That being said, I have seen some pretty nice pen style tattoo's by breeders. It takes practice. The clamps have also been improved so that some can hold up to six tiles in them now. Yes, the pen is much more flexible to the length, but you need amazing hand writing for it, and a lot of PATIENCE, which I don't have! Either way, which ever you choose, whether it be the clamp or pen, both are humane and low stress to the rabbits. Check out Part 2 & 3 in Rabbit Tattooing |
AuthorPhotographer and crazy animal lover ♥ Archives
October 2017
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