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telling rabbits apart

poyassine

New Kit
Hiya, new to this forum, I have 2 rabbits same colour (from same litter), have just found out that they are boy and girl (was told 2 boys), getting Max done on Tuesday, but Scruffy could be pregnant already have to wait. Anyway, whats a safe way of marking one of them to identify them, they really look alike. We can only tell them apart when we feed them as Max grabs his food off you whilst Scruffy lets you hold it she is more dainty. Is there a safer and easier way of doing this?

The nurse at the vet said we can put nail varnish on one of the ears, is this safe?
 
Nooooo dont put nail varnish on your bunnys ears!
It will irritate them and if they ingest it it could be dangerous!
Why not shave a small patch of fur on one of the buns backs not all the way down just so its a little shorter than the rest of the hair, thats alot safer and you can just shave it again once it starts to grow back?
But surely once you have had them for a while you will be able to tell them apart straight away :D
Ps sending no pregnant vibes
 
You could try a dab of either gentian violet (purple) or iodine tincture (brown) on the fur, or maybe inside the ear tip on the skin. They are both animal safe antiseptic solutions, but they stain skin and fur. Try using a cotton bud or cotton wool ball. You wouldn't need much - just a drop or 2.

By the time it wears off, you may be able to tell the buns apart by their behavior. Hand feeding treats such as fenugreek crunchies may help here.
 
You could try a dab of either gentian violet (purple) or iodine tincture (brown) on the fur, or maybe inside the ear tip on the skin. They are both animal safe antiseptic solutions, but they stain skin and fur. Try using a cotton bud or cotton wool ball. You wouldn't need much - just a drop or 2.

By the time it wears off, you may be able to tell the buns apart by their behavior. Hand feeding treats such as fenugreek crunchies may help here.

These are good options too but your vet is correct, nail varnish is safe and is one of the options given by the British Association of Rodentologists as a sensible way of telling animals apart.

As for the preganancy thing, if she is not too far gone you can get an emergency spay. I would mention it to your vet again if you are worried about getting stuck with lots of babies a sthey can be very difficult to find good homes for.
 
Another thing you can do is use food dye, thats what I do with my lutino budgies (I color their tails different colors). It works well for them, though it may get washed off by rabbits too often :? So shaving a little fur is probably the best thing to do.
 
I would definitely NOT put nail varnish on a Rabbit's ears !!

I have used a dot of Organic Vegetarian Food Dye on the ear tip as a means of identification :)
 
Because it's toxic and corrosive

It is deemed safe enough for use on people though. I have never been burned by it either so it can't be particularly corrosive. Lots of every day stuff is harmful if consumed in large enough quanties, clening producs for one. The BAR include it in their course notes as a valid method, surely they wouldn't be recommending something that was that harmful.
 
It is deemed safe enough for use on people though. I have never been burned by it either so it can't be particularly corrosive. Lots of every day stuff is harmful if consumed in large enough quanties, clening producs for one. The BAR include it in their course notes as a valid method, surely they wouldn't be recommending something that was that harmful.

Have you tried eating it? Rabbits groom themselves and each other all the time.
 
Have you tried eating it? Rabbits groom themselves and each other all the time.

Actually yes. I am awful with nails. I bite them down as far as they will go and any nail varnish is safe for an hour then it's bitten off too :oops:. Don't bother with it anymore for that very reason
 
It is deemed safe enough for use on people though. I have never been burned by it either so it can't be particularly corrosive. Lots of every day stuff is harmful if consumed in large enough quanties, clening producs for one. The BAR include it in their course notes as a valid method, surely they wouldn't be recommending something that was that harmful.

I am afraid I dont agree, qualified or not.
Just my PO :)
 
When we have a litter of kittens that all look alike, we often end up putting a dot of tippex on the tip of their tail, but they don't groom that like a rabbit would its ears.

I'd go for the food colouring option too - sounds the least harmful!
 
When we had a litter of 5 jet black kittens from a stray cat here last year, 4 were male. 1 had slight stripes, and one was small, the other 2 were like mirror images so we used the sheep spray. One was blue, one was green. Then when they were running about the girl was very hard to tell without looking so she had orange. Both her and one of her brothers (non sprayed) live next door. 'Poppy' still looks a bit orange now :lol:
 
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