# TATOO INK COLOR QUESTION



## bluepez (Sep 27, 2010)

For all the ARBA judges....Does ink color matter in the ears?? I have a green paste that I bought in a kit, wondering if its acceptable...or is it frowned on? Or is black the best?



Thanks




EDITED: DUH I forgot a 'T" in tattoo..LOL nevermind that! lol


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## Purple Mountain Rabbitry (Sep 27, 2010)

I used the green paste on my rabbits it "burned" their ears and took forever to get them over it. luckily I was able to show still the judge was asked to over look it since it wasn't only my rabbits with the problem but others as well. I would use an ink not a paste. I will be using ink this year. I was very upset with the effects of the paste. and the lady that did it put it in the entire upper part of the ear not just the tattoo. but in my experience and others I know who have also used the paste, this is a bad product that burns bunny ears.

Idk if anyone else had had this problem but with so many around here having this problem I would not reccomend it. I would get black ink to use.

Crystal


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## Blaze_Amita (Sep 27, 2010)

I had gotten green ink paste with my tattoo kit and my rabbits never had a problem with it, we tattooed quite a few rabbits with it and shown,never had anything said about them. i have also used black in my tattoos. I haven't noticed a significant difference some tattoo better than others with the black ink, some better with the green paste stuff. i've been told to try using a black pasty ink, said that it tends to hold better. frankly i've been trying blue ink, black ink and green paste. it all depends on the rabbit kind of.


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## pamnock (Sep 27, 2010)

There's no rule on ink color, but as a judge, I can tell you that I hate green/red inks. I highly recommend using black. I use India ink from the art supply store.


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## wooly_queen (Sep 27, 2010)

I have a little Polish buck that i bought about a week ago and I just noticed he had green ink a little while ago. I think it looks pretty cool, but I would never use the red ink... maybe green or even blue I would think about. lol


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## GorbyJobRabbits (Sep 28, 2010)

I had thought about this last night when I was looking at tattoo kits. Thought the red and blue would be an easy way to seperate the males from females. 

Now I know, its not exactly the best.


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## bluepez (Sep 29, 2010)

Why do you hate green ink?


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## Purple Mountain Rabbitry (Sep 29, 2010)

I can understand why. red and green ink can both be really hard to read. I have trouble with them at times. people around here are switching to easier to read inks and to inks instead of paste. the paste sticks to their skin and rips it/ burns it. and is hard to get out of both ear and fur. my boys still have some on the fur on their paws. ugh and its been over 2 months. oh well its fading. this is another problems judges have I know all four of my judges did. luckily it didn't count against me for any of them they were asked to over look it. yay. but my boys were in such pain for three weeks due to the paste ripping/burning their ears . no scars which is a plus. this is my experience with paste I would recommend gettinga blue or black ink they wont hurt the ears and it will be easy to see. 

Best of luck and best wishes

crystal


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## Jaded (Sep 29, 2010)

I would use Black ink, its easier to read and it wont fade as fast.
Some colors (Green, Blue) are to light and bright to read.


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## pamnock (Sep 29, 2010)

*bluepez wrote: *


> Why do you hate green ink?



Green ink is for goat tattooing.

I hate green ink because it can be difficult to read (nearly impossible on dark colored rabbits), and is difficult to remove from the fur - you wouldn't believe how many rabbits come up on the table covered in green paste.


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## GorbyJobRabbits (Sep 29, 2010)

another tattoo question for you Pam. 


I still have the old tattooing kit. The clamp style. I had looked into buying an updated kit..... in your opinion which is easier to read?


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## pamnock (Sep 29, 2010)

Generally, a good pen-tatt is easier to read. However, a well done clamp tattoocan bejust as good.


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## Blaze_Amita (Sep 30, 2010)

since we are on the topic of tattoo's. i've got another question, i have been using a black tattoo ink from tractor supply and the old style clamp. my dutch don't typically have a problem holding a tat, but i can't get most of my mini rex or my holland lops to take a tattoothat way, am I doing something wrong? I had to pay someone at a show to tattoo my hollands with an EZ-Tatt pen and those tattoo's still, 3.5 years later, look great, but no sign were I had tried a clamp on their ears 3 or 4 times with differentcolored inks, pasteand what not.


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## pamnock (Sep 30, 2010)

Probably the thicker ears on your other breeds. I clamp completely through the ear and use a little touch up needle for any holes that didn't take well.

Could also be the tattooer. The older style of "Grand Champion" tattoers with the plastic pins were notorious for poor tattoos.

Pam


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