DIY Rabbit Tattoo Ink and Needles

As a rabbit breeder, there are many things I have to do day to day, month to month, and that includes tattooing my young litters of growouts. Personally, I like to tattoo the majority of the litter (all rabbits without DQ’s or noticeable faults) so I can write their unique numbers down in my notebook and evaluate them every week, making notes as I go. As you might imagine, this much tattooing requires me to replace tattoo needles and ink often. Have you seen the price of needles and ink nowadays?? Not to mention, there are additives and weird ingredients in store-bought tattoo ink. Some rabbits can have allergic reactions to these ingredients, which causes irritation and discomfort.

In this blog post I’m going to teach you how to make DIY rabbit tattoo ink out of activated charcoal and vodka. I love this hack so much! This ink has a better consistency and easier clean-up than store-bought inks, and I have not witnessed nearly as much irritation in my rabbits’ ears as they heal over. We’re also going to go over how to create DIY tattoo needles for the TB Tatt tattoo pen for a fraction of the cost.

Shoutout to my friends Victoria at Under the Cloud Homestead and Emily at Heritage Homestead! Victoria discovered this charcoal and vodka ink hack, and Emily discovered how to create tattoo needles at home. I wouldn’t be writing this blog post if it wasn’t for you guys!

---

Charcoal + VodkA Rabbit Tattoo Ink

What You’ll Need:

• Small Mason Jar with Lid (at least 4oz.)

• 1/4 c. Measuring Cup

• Activated Charcoal

• Vodka (any brand, just make sure it’s free of added flavors or colors)

• Chopstick

Check out these products!

Instructions:

Scoop out 1/4 c. activated charcoal into your mason jar, following by 1/4 c. vodka. Use your chopstick to stir the mixture gently. Alternatively, if you have a leakproof lid your can screw it on and shake the mixture until even. That’s it! Make sure to shake it up before each use for optimal results.

Make sure to keep the jar closed unless you are using the tattoo ink, otherwise the vodka can evaporate. If the vodka does evaporate, you can add more to rehydrate the activated charcoal.

Like any tattoo ink, the charcoal vodka ink is extremely messy, however, I find that it cleans up much easier with soap and water and doesn’t stain like store-bought ink does. Best of all, I don’t worry about what I’m putting in my rabbits’ ears (or on my own skin) because it’s made from only 2 ingredients and the vodka keeps the mixture sterile.

---

DIY Rabbit Tattoo Needles

These homemade needles are designed to fit the TB Tatt tattoo pen from All Things Bunnies HERE. There are a lot of similar-looking tattoo pens out there that are made specifically for rabbits. Fun fact, these tattoo pens are made out of parts for electric toothbrushes! You can probably make the DIY tattoo needles to fit any of those, you just might have to modify it a little bit.

I would also like to make mention of the tattoo needle sizes below. My favorite (and the one I’ve linked to Amazon below) is the 5RL. It is medium thickness, and to me feels just right for tattooing rabbits. The 7RL is thicker and will produce a much bolder line, and the 3RL is much thinner for a very fine line. If you’re not sure which one to get, they do make combo packs so you can experiment to get to know your favorites.

What You’ll Need:

• 3/16” heat shrink tubing

• Tattoo needles (3RL, 5RL, 7RL)

• Super glue

• Pliers

• Lighter

Check out these links!

Instructions:

1. Remove your tattoo needle from the package and cut it with your pliers to about 3”. Be extremely careful handling tattoo needles as they can stab you (it’s happened to me and it doesn’t feel good!). Set the needle aside.

2. Cut a piece of heat shrink tubing to approximately 3 1/4”. This may need adjusted once we have the needle assembled, but don’t worry about it for now.

3. Using your pliers to hold onto the “needle portion” of the tattoo needle, drip a very small amount of superglue on the thickest part.

4. Slide your shrink tubing up on the needle, just past the thickest part of the needle making sure the superglue is inside the shrink tubing.

5. Hold the needle horizontally and use your lighter to gently brush the surface of the shrink tubing with the flame. Take care not to burn the shrink tubing and don’t stay in the same place too long - just brush back and forth with the flame until you see the shrink tubing shrink.

6. While the shrink tubing is still hot, lay the needle down on a flat surface and roll. This helps keep the needle nice and straight. Depending on your shrink tubing, you may need to repeat steps 5- 6. Check to see how the needle is fitting in your tattoo pen along the way, taking care not to push the needle out of the shrink tubing. It may take a couple hours for the superglue to cure and kind of “stabilize” the needle within the shrink tubing. When the shrink tubing shrinks, sometimes it can lengthen. Check to make sure you can assemble your tattoo pen and it works properly. Many times I have to trim off a little more excess shrink tubing at the very end of this process.

That’s it! It’s so simple to make tattoo needle at home. And just for fun, I wanted to do a little math. The shrink tubing is $10.99 for a 50-ft roll (which is honestly a pretty endless amount for this project). The tattoo needles are 50 for $8.99. Meaning that you can make 50 homemade tattoo needles for your rabbits for about 40 cents a piece!! Compare that to buying a single store-bought needle for $5. It’s a no brainer.

Make sure to watch my instructional video above. Drop a comment below if you try one or both of these projects! I hope this saves you money in your rabbit breeding endeavors.

Happy tattooing!