It probably means something to the breeder – they all have their own system. I just hope he wasn’t the 302nd rabbit they bred because that would be ALOT of rabbits in my opinion.

The rabbits from Marshall Farms that they used to sell in Petco and Petsmart that were altered (at a very young age) just had a dot as a tattoo. I’ve had a few rabbits with tattoos but I never knew what they meant.

Unfortunately there’s no system 🙁 It does indicate that he’s a purebred (or at least 99% chance), but every breeder can do tattoos however they want and just use their own system to keep track. There’s no standardization. I’m guessing he was the 302nd bun they bred.

eta: Otto came from a breeder but doesn’t have a tattoo (that I can find) I think because his breeder knew he was going to a pet home.

I don’t believe a tattoo means purebred at all…I had a NZ white with a tattoo and I seriously doubt that her being a purebred was important since we know what NZ’s are bred for. I also had a Netherland Dwarf with a tattoo.

 Creepy!

Google “tattoo on pet bunny ear.” Sounds like show people do it a lot, and people that breed and put their buns in hutches.

Some kind of tracking system.  Sounds like you might have saved Zeus from a less than desirable situation….

It must have hurt.  

Well, Zeus, I’m sending a hug.  Brave lil feller.  

Really? I didn’t know that anyone other than show breeders bothered to tattoo. Tattooing is required for shows because otherwise it’s too easy to mix up bunnies (all brown holland lops look pretty much the same! haha). I didn’t realize it was so widely spread.

Poor Zeus! Thank goodness your mommy came along!

I often wonder if those kinds of people are just ignorant to the needs of rabbits / have been misinformed by breeders and such? Or do they just not care? The education stuff can be worked on, but if people don’t give a hoot, then there is no hope.

We got Gulliver & Lainey from the shelter & Lainey had her name (at the time, Layla) WRITTEN in black ink on the inside of 1 ear.  They said it was to tell the “white” bunnies apart although all the other white ones had pink eyes…Lainey’s are brown.  It eventually wore off.  Thats all I know about markings .

Most likely the tattoo is a breeder tattoo to identify their bunnies.  Griffin’s breeder mentioned he could be tattooed but I was not interested.  There is no standard system- otherwise the numbers would be much. much longer in addition to adding letters.

I think they tattoo by putting the numbers/letters in a press/gun and using that to mark the ears.  Ouchie.  Our dogs were tattooed with Mich Dept of Agriculture numbers by means of regular tattooing and they did not really seem to mind- they were awake- muzzled and laying on their side.  They seemed more perplexed about why they were not being adored and cuddled as opposed to the tatooing itself. 

Posted By Sarita on 05/13/2010 04:58 PM
I don’t believe a tattoo means purebred at all…I had a NZ white with a tattoo and I seriously doubt that her being a purebred was important since we know what NZ’s are bred for. I also had a Netherland Dwarf with a tattoo.

It makes me sad to know what they are bred for Baxter is a NZ red and white mix and he is the sweetest big boy!

People around here show rabbits in 4H a lot and they all have an ear tattoo

By uneducated I was thinking also about the average joe who goes to visit the country side / farm, sees baby bunnies, buys one for his kids, and the breeder tells them “yeah, sure, keep ’em outside, perfectly fine,” ect. I mean, in that situation you would hope that Joe would do his own research too, but I could see how a number of people might just take the breeders word for it. Not smart, but a lot of people aren’t smart. And unfortunately there is no intelligence / compassion quotient for breeding or buying bunnies.

Posted By usagi on 05/13/2010 07:14 PM
By uneducated I was thinking also about the average joe who goes to visit the country side / farm, sees baby bunnies, buys one for his kids, and the breeder tells them “yeah, sure, keep ’em outside, perfectly fine,” ect. I mean, in that situation you would hope that Joe would do his own research too, but I could see how a number of people might just take the breeders word for it. Not smart, but a lot of people aren’t smart. And unfortunately there is no intelligence / compassion quotient for breeding or buying bunnies.

I am going to strongly disagree with this statement. While is not compassionate to BREED bunnies. WHY is a person who buys a bunny not intelligent or compassionate? There are a lot of people on this forum that bought thier bunnies. I am one of them.  I actually bought both of my bunnies. Not everyone has a shelter with bunnies they can go to. I searched for a long time for a shelter and had not luck so I bought my bunnies. I very much care about them. They are very well taken care of. I am an educated and compassionate person as are others who are on this site.

A lot of people don’t do their research and know that there are rabbits at the local shelters. I didn’t even know rabbits needed to be spay/neutered before.

As what was said before- average Joe see’s “baby bunnies for sale” and gets them for his kids, thinking they are easy to keep and maybe they live 1 year with them because they never did research, and just buying from the petstore or breeder was way easier than going through an adoption process.

People who make that choice, whether it be breeder,feedstore,petstore,shelter – will have to deal with the consequences of most likely having to get them fixed if they didn’t come from the shelter, possible sickness, etc. It doesn’t make them stupid though (maybe just a bit lazy). Us humans are creatures of habit and loves things that are easy and convenient. Instant gradification.  We all have many options in life, and we can all hope that once they are educated that they will adopt from a shelter if they choose to bond their rabbit with another. The main problem with petstore/feedstore/breeder issue is that yes, we all feel like we saved this one rabbit – but … that petstore/feedstore/breeder will just fill that space again with another rabbit that really needs a great home, and we can’t help them all!

Personally I am very concerned with the people who just randomly get a bunny and have no idea how to care for it, and they don’t even try to learn and they give it a very poor quality of life. I wish more people did more reasearch and didn’t buy them for their 2 year old kids. I have a horrid picture in my mind when I was a little girl when a rabbit bit my neihbors child and he threw it on the ground and stomped on it. I think I was in shell shock for a week after witnessing that as a 6 year old. I also think BB is doing such a good job here with these forums and educating people on rabbits. If I didn’t find this site, Bun would be intact still and being a drama queen and biting me. Thank you BB!