One night in the summer of 1983 I was sitting in the living room with my boyfriend watching a movie. We let his ferret out to run around and explore the living room. His sister went out on a date; his dad ran out to the store. When the movie was over we looked for his ferret, but could not find him anywhere. My boyfriend, his mother, and I took to the street calling his name. About a mile away we came upon a group of people with flashlights and a police car. In the arms of one girl was my boyfriend’s ferret! The police officer would not simply take our word for it, however. He asked if we had any way of proving it. Quickly trying to wrack my brain I remembered that the second claw on his left hind foot was deformed. After checking his foot the police officer let us take the ferret and begin the walk back home.

If your pet slipped out the back door like my boyfriend’s ferret did, would you be able to prove his identity to anyone? These days I am not certain the crooked claw identity would have been enough to regain my boyfriend’s ferret. Pets get loose and are stolen everyday. The ability to easily identify your pet – whether it is a stranger that finds it or a shelter worker – may mean the difference between losing your pet forever or just temporarily.

There are many methods of pet identification. Some are permanent; some are not. Whenever possible you should choose at least one method of permanent identification and/or one visible method of identification. Few methods can do both. The type of exotic pet you own will determine what is available to you as well as your local availability and laws. Some of the methods of pet identification are tattooing, ear tagging, collaring, dyeing, wing clips, leg bands, filing, marking, and micro-chipping. This author prefers micro-chipping as the permanent solution for identification. The drawback to using micro-chipping is two-fold: if you travel internationally you may need to buy your own scanner because the United States has not yet standardized to what the rest of the world uses, and micro-chipping is not visible to the casual observer. Micro-chipping is suitable for most animals – including fish!

Identification methods:

Tattooing is simply ink injected into the skin. For mammals this is usually a letter/number code. For aquatics this is usually a color bead combination.

Ear tagging is usually seen in larger mammals (livestock). It basically looks like a woman’s dangly earring. The tag contains the identification information.

Dyeing is using a color dye on a small patch of fur. If your rabbit escapes and he has a patch of purple the chances are greater someone will question whether or not it is a pet.

Wing clips just sounds misleading. This method of identification is a band with a pierced end that creates a closed loop (similar to a woman’s hoop earring). Wing clips can be used on birds, guinea pigs, rabbits, and livestock although it is not commonly used for pet identification.

Filing and marking are used for turtles and tortoises. A very small section of the carapace is filed to make it unique. Water-proof epoxy can also be used for obvious visual identification.

Micro-chipping is where a very small (rice-size small) transponder is inserted into the animal. It is read using a hand-held scanner.

Whatever method you use, keep records of the identification as well as any photographs that can help identify your pet. Be sure you register your identification method with any available national or international registries. (It does little good to get identification and then not register.)