Surprise!? My bunny is tattooed

[ChocolateBunny]

So I was looking at my bunny today and noticed something in his ear, when I got a better look, I sall that its actually a tattoo.

It says Z23 What does this mean? And why would his ear be tattooed?

 

[CalifornianKit]

All rabbits that are shown are required to have tattooes. It simply means that you had a breeder whom knew enough to tattoo them which is a good thing! It is a mixture of a brand (you can find out which breeder he came from), a show requirement, and a system of being able to get info on the rabbit.

If you found out who tattooed their rabbits like that you could contact the breeder and find out his parents names, lineage, age, birthdate, gender, registered name (if he has one)

 

[ChocolateBunny]

wow, didnt know that. she never mentioned that he was shown..most on here said he doesnt look show quality though?

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Many breeders will tattoo all their rabbits. It is much easier to ID each rabbit if they are tattooed. If they have even 5 tort holland lops, they can get mixed up easily so tattoos let you know who is who.

Tattoos can mean a few things for the breeder. Some do a breeder prefix (usually the rabbitry name letters) and some numbers, while others use the initial of the parents and numbers for each offspring. This can make it hard to figure out who the breeder is if you do not know, especially with more common breeds in your area.

With pets, tattoos don't really mean a lot. They can be useful if he were to get lost or stolen. It could be a good idea to take a picture of the tattoo just in case. If you take him to a vet for anything, get them to write down the tattoo as well. If you vet does tattoo for the spay or neuter, they will do it in the right ear and that will have a specific letter/number system that makes it easy to trace.

 

[TinysMom]

Another system some folks use is a letter for the litter and then a number.

For instance - my first litter was the letter "A". My best buck was A1, my best doe A2, and the females all had even numbers while the bucks had odd numbers.

If I had seven rabbits - say 5 bucks and 2 does - I'd have A1,A3,A5,A7,A9 & A2, A4.

Once I got through the alphabet- my next litter was "AA" and then "AB" etc.