Taxidermy is the new awesome

Okay. I am posting this at the risk of offending all the animal lovers out there. This is not to say that I am not an animal lover. I just happen to be okay with taxidermy. I actually think it is pretty cool. If you would like to complain about it, don't tell me. I am sure there are plenty of people over at www.wekillstuffforfuneveryday.com that would love to hear what you have to say.

I took a 3 hour class at Paxton Gate on basic taxidermy tonight. Paxton Gate is one of my favorite Mission shops, full of carniverous plants, pinned insects, weird bones and fossils, and of course, taxidermied masterpieces.

You know that you are in the right place for taxidermy class when you walk in and see these on the walls:


I sat down and thought, "cute! gift bags." Gift bags with a dead mouse inside.



Jeanie M is the teacher of the class, and she says that she can crank out dozens of these cute mice every week. She doesn't just stuff mice - she stuffs them and poses them and dresses them up in itty bitty stuffed mouse clothing.














She gave the demo first. Since we had all signed up for the class voluntarily, it was obvious that none of us really had weak stomachs, so one of the girls had to prove that her stomach was even stronger than normal by eating a burrito during the taxidermy demonstration. Okay, okay. We get it. Scalpels and guts don't even phase you one bit. Great. Now I will think of dead mice any time I smell a steak burrito.


My little mouse was so cute. For the record(if there is one), all these mice come from a store called East Bay Vivarium where they sell frozen mice to feed to snakes. So this little guy was either going to get ingested by some reptile, or immortalized in my apartment, so if you think of it that way he isnt getting too bad of a deal.

Disecting a mouse was not as bad as I thought it might be. No blood. No loose internal organs. It was just like handling raw chicken or something, and the little skin just peels right away so you can stuff it with this cotton mold we made.


here is my little guy, all pinned and ready to dry. I have to think of something to dress him in, quick. Any ideas?

If anyone is interested, Fecal Face does a semi-detailed tutorial on "How to Stuff a Mouse" (beware - graphic photos of mouse guts abound) if you want the gory details of how to do it yourself. Or you can come to my house. I will be conducting classes at our kitchen table a few nights a week.