#rat pelt

[zojahschickenarmy]

Something a little different from my propert- my rat boi! He’s a frozen freezer mouse (note for future- source them more ethically) that I’ve made a taxidermy of. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, I intended to start with mice but for some reason just got the urge for a rat, to gift to my rat-obsessed brother. (Who has approved it already.) This was super fun and I learned a lot, he’s a little wonky but I plan to do more!

[arcanum-of-stars]

Did a much better job of skinning this r.at then the first one I did 👌🏻 the first time I tried to skin a r.at I did a case skin but ended up with two massive holes in the stomach by the time I was done. I ended up just salt drying the face and a piece of the back pelt.

This guy has a bit of slippage near the groin, unfortunately I didn’t realize the picture was blurry before I threw him in salt so I can’t show that. There’s a also a small hole in the leg. Overall not bad for my second try so I’m not too upset by my mistakes.

Practice makes perfect after all so maybe I’ll try something bigger next time. I’ve also got this guys head in a jar so I can clean his skull. I think it’d be cool to add it to my collection since he has that weird tooth.

4/7/2020

[arcanum-of-stars]

Stellas skull. I’m incredibly happy that she is finally finished, a bit disappointed that I lost more pieces than I thought some how and I couldn’t get the tympanic bullas (correct me if I’m wrong on that) to go where they were supposed to. Maybe I let her sit in maceration for too long?

Either way she’s put together as much as possible, and has all of her teeth 🙌🏻 I also managed to flatten out her piece of fur a bit. Now it’s just a matter of finding a good display case and a crystal. I used my amethyst for the pictures.

[arcanum-of-stars]

Stellas fur is finished drying. It didn’t dry flat but that’s really not a big deal and there’s was only one tiny spot that slipped but can be covered pretty well.

Her head is still in the maceration process but her teeth have turned black for some reason. I can’t find any reason online why it does that so if someone could tell my what it is that would be pretty nice. I was hoping her teeth would stay orange but as long as I have her teeth I’m alright.

I’m still deciding what crystal I’m going to put in her display but more than likely one that represents strength or beauty.

[arcanum-of-stars]

I decided not to procrastinate and just get done Stella. I got upset a few times and tried to figure out how to start because I’ve of course never done this with a pet that has passed. I took some pictures of her before doing so which helped a lot.

I chose to keep her skull, and to salt-dry a large piece of her fur. I have a good idea of how I want to display her once she’s finally done.

[arcanum-of-stars]

Got Stellas fur in the salt. It’s already partially dried out. I will be changing the maceration water of her jar soon too and looks like it’s going pretty ok.