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
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