To Tatt or Not To Tatt, that is the question

I am about to pass on offspring of my imported Holland Lops to fellow enthusiasts. They will of course come together with pedigrees and it wouldn't be quite complete in my standards to pass on a pedigree without a form of identification to state that the rabbit is indeed what the pedigree states.

In order to have a form of identification, I would like to consider tattooing my rabbits as mentioned in the previous post. The most conventional way of tatooing is using the clamp version and this method is well known among breeders in US to cause rabbits to break their legs or worst, backs. It is a very risky procedure.

Than I came across this tattoo tool called RabitTatt by Glenna Hendrix. It seemed to be a great tattoo kit to have but I would need to lay down the facts and get my priorities right.

Let's go back to the basic by asking the question, why breeders tattoo their rabbits?

Tattooing a rabbit is part of the Show requirements. Each registered rabbit must be legibly identified and tattoo is known to be the most commonly used.

Then, what is the significance for me to tattoo?

Personally I would love to track my rabbits and if they are being used as breeding stocks, at least I can trace the lineage back since the rabbits will always come with a pedigree. But we do not have shows to begin with and there is always a possibility that my rabbits may be cross bred with a different breed (Lord, I hope this never happens), would it be in vain if I tattoo them?

Most breeders in US rather not tattoo their rabbits for the same reason that there is a possibility that the rabbits may be injured in the process. But if you are dealing with exportation, a form of identification has got to be in place. Since I have no intention to export at the moment, I may not need to go through that process.

So my question to myself and you fellow readers is, if IDENTIFICATION that important?

Because the only reason for tattoo is for identification, Identification and IDENTIFICATION.