Grrrrr @%$@%@ ham handed breeders!

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Heather Designs

Heather Designs

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
72
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Location
Omaha, NE
I went to a rabbit show in Jefferson, WI yesterday and got two satin rabbits. I want to breed them to my angoras to improve the consistency of the coats so I have beautiful fiber to spin and knit with. The boy is 2months old and was tattooed yesterday. I was holding him today and found scabbing on the outside of his ear. The %$@$% breeder had gone thru his ear while tattooing him!

It's not scratching from him messing with it, the scabbing is in the exact form of his tattoo. I am so mad at her. How can you be so careless with a living creature? She's lucky she didn't cause tearing or worse on this poor baby. I wonder how many other bunnies she's injured this same way.

Sorry for the rant. I just know how easy it is to tattoo an animals ear without punching all the way thru that people who don't take the care needed to safeguard their animals just really toasts my cheese.
 
The ears are rather thin in many breeds of rabbits(especially in juniors), so I tattoo completely through the ear to get a good tattoo when using a clamp. With no "stop" on a clamp, it would be very difficult to guage an exact depth when tattooing. It's important to get below the epidermis, or the tattoo will quickly fade. A degree of scabbing is normal in a correctly done tattoo (just as in people) due to damage in the dermal layer as a result of tattooing. This is true whether using a clamp or pen. Incorrectly done pen tattoos can result in significant scarring and the entire tattoo peeling out.

I've been breeding for over 20 years, and have tattooed thousands of rabbits (with clamp as well as electric tattoo guns).

Pam
 
Sylvie my mini rex had her ear clamped but the breeder didnt clamp very hard so all the color faded so i have to get her tattooed again, so her ear was fine but that sucks. sorry..poor bun
 
Another method of tattooing is by hand - although the art of hand tattooing is seen very little these days. I only use it to fix old fadedclamp tattoos. With the hand tattooing method, a trio of needles dipped in ink is inserted beneath the epidermal layer at a slight angle. It is pulled out and reinserted at intervals to produce letters/numbers.

Pam
 
I don't know much about tattooing, but it is exciting that you're going to introduce some satin genes into your angoras. Does that make a different variety of angora? Like a Satin Angora?

I am pretty sure all my guys with tattoos (that's everyone but Tony) had theirs done with a clamp. For Muffin, it's fading quite a bit. Frida's oldest but hers is still quite dark. I sometimes wonder how they get tattoos on those tiny little nethie ears, but they manage. I remember seeing a flemmie at the fair who had his whole first name tattooed on his ear--they're such big ears that he had room for it (HARVEY)!
 
tonyshuman wrote:
I don't know much about tattooing, but it is exciting that you're going to introduce some satin genes into your angoras. Does that make a different variety of angora? Like a Satin Angora?
Click to expand...


I have a pair of Satin Angora mittens - they are so delightfully soft. ;)The Satin wool yield is lower than other Angoras and the wool is a little "slippery" to work with, but it makes a very elegant product.

Pam
 
Thanks for answering Pam. I didn't have an answer for Claire :)

I just got the satins as an experiment. My first degree is in Microbiology, specializing in plant genetics. I decided to just get the satins and hope and play around with breeding to see if I could get a better coat. I'm curious to see if coat is controlled by simple mendelian genetics or if it's more complex.
 
The Satin coat is recessive. However, you might notice a slight degree of difference in carriers (such as a finer diameter hair shaft).

Pam
 
Sounds like I'll need to find my digital micrometer so I can measure hair shafts in future generations.

My one female angora Pandora (the shelter gave her that name because she got into things she shouldn't :)) has a very satin looking face. It will be interesting to see what her kits look like when I breed her to the male satin. That will have to wait a while though because he's only 2mo old.
 
Heather Designs wrote:
Sounds like I'll need to find my digital micrometer so I can measure hair shafts in future generations.
Click to expand...

That would be very interesting! Microscopic observation will also reveal the differences in the hair shafts.

Pam
 
Yeah, but I have a micrometer, I don't have a microscope. LOL

I no longer work in the Micro field. I'm now a full time artist and work out of my home. If I did still work in the field I could do this a lot fast because I'd still have access to my gene splicing equipment and could just insert the satin gene into the embryos.

However, as an artist, my glass torch, soldering iron, and oil paints are less than useful when it comes to propagating the next generation. I'll have to do it the old fashioned way and let the buns have some fun. :)
 
Hehe! They sell surplus lab equipment from the UW system at SWAP (surplus with a purpose) in Verona--sometimes they have nice microscopes for pretty cheap, in case you're interested. Usually the microscopes go up on the online auctions.
http://www.bussvc.wisc.edu/SWAP/
 
Thanks, I've never heard of SWAP before. I will check them out. I used to have a microscope when I did the reptile rescue because I would do fecal floats and check the animals for parasites. When I got out of the rescue I gave it to the person who took over for me and showed them how to do the checks. I may have to get another one :)
 
That's pretty awesome. If you're going to get a large herd of angoras going, it may be helpful to do your own fecal floats at times as well, although of course a vet is always best. ;)

SWAP is wonderful--I get stuff there for my lab here at the UW all the time, and they sell all sorts of cool stuff, even to the general public. Some of it could have pretty nefarious purposes (what purpose could someone have for lab glassware other than making drugs?), but I assume some if it goes to schools, etc.
 
Ok, a new chapter in the ham handed breeder saga. Not only was she a clutz in going thru the ear while tattooing. (Sorry, for those of you who say you do it, nothing can convince me that it is necessary. You can get a good dark tattoo without going all the way thru the ear. i've done it.)

Ok, sidebar over, not only was she a clutz, she was also an idiot! The scabs are coming off Rogers ear and THERE IS NO TATTOO!!!! There is scar tissue forming a slightly raised 09 but there is no color to it. SHE DIDN'T HAVE INK IN THE TATTOO GUN!!!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that an important part of tattooing? I know the person who taught me to do it seemed to think it was important. LOL

How important is a tattoo if I decide to show Roger at some point?

And if you are interested, pictures of my rabbits and their new home can be seen in my RO blog.
 
Heather Designs wrote:
Ok, sidebar over, not only was she a clutz, she was also an idiot! The scabs are coming off Rogers ear and THERE IS NO TATTOO!!!! There is scar tissue forming a slightly raised 09 but there is no color to it. SHE DIDN'T HAVE INK IN THE TATTOO GUN!!!!
Click to expand...

I've never heard of anyone putting ink "on" the tattoo clamp. It's wiped into the tattoo after.

Pam
 
Ok, I've only ever used a tattoo gun that has the ink in it. Apparently she forgot to wipe the ink into the tattoo then. Still, dumb, dumb, dumb.
 
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