taxidermy rat

[sammysaidso]

My oh has just given me a present... Its a taxidermy rat.
I've had an interest in taxidermy for a long time now but have never bought any. Both me and my other half kept rats for years and I've been a foster mum for rats and tamed them so they were suitable to be rehomed. So as you can imagine I have a soft spot for the little buggers.
But how? How did he put these two things together?
But now here it is, looking at me from the bookcase, I can feel its little beady eyes staring at me.
Even my 8 month old keeps looking at it (I think he just wants to eat it tho)
Its a lovely idea and I'm not being ungrateful but really...
Its a fucking stuffed rat!
Aibu to put it in his side of the bed and wait for the squeals tonight?

Disclaimer- I don't agree with animals being killed to be stuffed. I would rather the poor little girl (its a girl its hasn't got stuffed nuts) was still alive. Buts she's not she's sat on my bookcase.

my mate is reading this over my shoulder - we are both rat lovers too! She has 'saved' all her dead ones in the freezer for when she learns to do taxidermy

She says if you to give it to her she hug it and love it and call it anything you like.... She's deadly serious!!

My 12yo DD has requested that we have her ratties stuffed when they pop off this mortal coil

I'm sure I can ask my oh where he got it from if anyone would like to know pm me.
I've been looking at doing a course myself.

I've named it peaches, which is a rat from a Terry pratchett book.
Poor little thing, I feel really sorry for it now.

I saw a lovely movie about a taxidermist who got knocked over by a car driven by some hotshot rich guy. He did mice. Lovely mice in lovely outfits, in lovely dolls houses doing lovely stuff.

Cant think what it was called.

You need to buy your OH this movie for his next birthday.

Dinner for Schmucks

As a young teen I did a taxidermy course at Edinburgh museum,they use to do them for free, really interesting, you learn a lot about animals, I even helped with a giraffe over quite a few years,

I stuffed quite a few rodents, some of which are still in the museum, for anyone who knows the place behind the round windows with the owls, by the stairs. most of those are ones my cat bought in.

I sort of feel your pain...except I don't love rats.

DH once took me to an auction in the first few weeks of seeing each other - and there was a stuffed mongoose snarling at 2 stuffed cobras! DH looked in awe at this thing and said, 'Look! Isn't that fantastic?' and I said sweetly, 'Oh yes. Absolutely what you would want in your living room'....

He bought the fucking thing! And I had to sit with it on my knee in his van on the way home, shuddering with horror. Many years later I still loathe it and the way it lurks malevolently on his bedroom chest of drawers.

I tell you, my dears...he will not be in his grave before I've chucked the fucking thing in the dustbin!

Creepy. As. Hell.

For some reason, stuffed animals scare the shit out of me. I study Ancient Egypt in my own time, and would work with mummies constantly if I could - mummified bodies and animals, absolutely fine. Stuffed animals? Wrong.

Put it under his pillow.

I Have just watched the rat man episode of afterlife with my eyes shut. I would have nightmares.