# ear tattoo??



## AquaticRex (Nov 7, 2010)

my house mate's boyfriend found out i was debating on getting another rabbit, and wants us to take his rabbit, and says there is a tattoo on it's ear. whats it for??

says it's all up to date on it's shots, fixed, and micro-chipped (rabbit belonged to his sister who is a vet, but she moved across the country and left it behind with no intention of coming back for it). he thinks it's a female and a rex, but he isn't sure, and i forgot to ask the age...

but yea, i get the rest but what is the tattoo for??


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## Rabbit Hero (Nov 7, 2010)

If the rabbit came from a breeder then tattoo is to identify who the rabbit's mother and father are. This should be the mother's first initial, then the father's first. However I have also heard of shelters tattooing their rabbits to keep track of them, this should be a longer string of letters and numbers. That way if the rabbit is ever re-surrendered to them they know that they've had it before.


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## GorbyJobRabbits (Nov 7, 2010)

tattoos are from breeders or on show rabbits, or I'm sure some shelters do it to keep track of who is who.


Not all breeders use mothers and fathers initials..... I can't even think of one breeder on this site who really mentioned that.


all in all the tat is just an identification number.


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## Rabbit Hero (Nov 7, 2010)

oh really? It's exactly what my rabbit has. I was told it was standard!


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## Dragonrain (Nov 7, 2010)

One of my rabbits has an ear tattoo - his tattoo says "LD34". They are usually breeder tattoos, the breeders use them to identify the rabbits, I think. I got my rabbit second hand from someone that didn't want him anymore, but I was told that he had originally came from a breeder.

I wish you could find out what breeders they came from based on their tattoos. I'd love to contact his original breeder and ask her/him questions, see if s/he has any baby pics, etc. But even with his tattoo, I was never able to find out who his breeder had been.


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## GorbyJobRabbits (Nov 7, 2010)

nope nope. It would make it easier for a breeder to keep track of kits that is no doubt!

some fo the ones i bought ha AB1 its the owners first and last name or they use the rabbittry initials.


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## Rabbit Hero (Nov 7, 2010)

Interesting. My rabbit just has "DM" I was given his parents names but don't remember them now.


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## Korr_and_Sophie (Nov 7, 2010)

If it is in the left ear, it is a breed tattoo. Many breeders tattoo all rabbits and will do it in the left eat. Some do another tattoo in the right ear, but usually only for pet rabbits. Rabbits who are registered with ARBA will have a tattoo in the right ear that is for that, but I am not sure what it looks like. 
Most shelters and some vets will tattoo after the rabbit is spayed or neutered. This is done in the right ear. Each vet or shelter has their own system, so you can trace it if you know where the rabbit was done. 

Breeder tattoos can be hard to trace. Each breeder has their own system and it can even vary within the breeds from the same breeder. 
2 of my rabbits have tattoos from their breeders and they came from different breeders. Both of the tattoos are HA and an number. Both use the rabbitry initials (I assume), so the tattos are similar.


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## Jaded (Nov 7, 2010)

Breeders use tattoos to identify there rabbits, for show and breeding.


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## AquaticRex (Nov 7, 2010)

ooooo ok lol i get it now. i would have responded earlier, but for some reason i didnt get a notification at all for this post lol


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## Dragonrain (Nov 7, 2010)

It's too bad that all breeders couldn't get some kind of a system down where you could identify the breeder by the tattoo. 

Like I know some people still use tattoos to ID dogs, it's rare now, but there is a database where you can enter each individual's tattoo so that if they are ever lost and found, you can enter what their tattoos say into a database and find out who the owner is. 

Then you could see if there are certain breeders who have a lot of their stock turning up in shelters, or if you're someone like me you could get more information about where your rabbit originally came from.


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## Jaded (Nov 7, 2010)

*Dragonrain wrote: *


> It's too bad that all breeders couldn't get some kind of a system down where you could identify the breeder by the tattoo.
> 
> Like I know some people still use tattoos to ID dogs, it's rare now, but there is a database where you can enter each individual's tattoo so that if they are ever lost and found, you can enter what their tattoos say into a database and find out who the owner is.
> 
> Then you could see if there are certain breeders who have a lot of their stock turning up in shelters, or if you're someone like me you could get more information about where your rabbit originally came from.


There is a system you can identify the breeder as well, the ARBA registered rabbits have a tattoo in there right ear (normal tattoos are in the left ear) the ARBA registered rabbits tattoos are recorded and the ARBA secretary have the details of the breeder.


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