Mouse Taxidermy

How to stuff a mouse. Warning: an extremely graphic tutorial involving dead mice.
See LED Throwie Rodents, Conjoined Twin Mice, and Duck Mouse for more advanced projects..

Step 1: Procure mice

You'll need some dead mice.

These came frozen from the East Bay Vivarium. Most pet stores will happily sell you pet or feeder mice, but they may not exhibit such nice color variation. They may also be alive; if so, you'll need to be able to fix that yourself or find another supplier. Choose wisely.

Mice can be stored in ziplock baggies in your freezer until you need them. Don't repeatedly freeze/thaw your mouse or leave it in the fridge for an extended period as this decreases the skin/hair quality. An hour or so at room temperature is usually sufficient to thaw your mouse.

Comments

[zombiefire]

when i cut mine some of its insides were green

help

[Cambenora]

That wasn't a mouse, it was a piece of broccoli...

[raja681]

well first of all get the hell out of there ZOMBIE!!!! mouse then dispose of it

[zombiefire]

cheers

[ladylovecraft]

What do you think of using house mice (or rats.. but very small rats.) for this project?

[Lei_Kei]

My say on this is after my cousin, Paul Gaylord, got bubonic plague from his cat after his cat at a mouse I'm pretty cautious about that kind of stuff, but if you think it's safe, go for it!

[saeedelashram]

Great!

[Luziviech]

"They may also be alive; if so, you'll need to be able to fix that" - yea, broken alive mouses, fix em with sumthin deadly - lmao!

[dpedaci]

Thank you so much for this detailed tutorial! My daughter has expressed interest in learning taxidermy, but I haven't had luck finding anyone to teach her--this is perfect for getting her started.

[mholsinger-stitt]

does anyone sell their mice they have already done? if yes, IM INTERESTED!

[sandaili]

Wow. I can understand that everyone likes taxidermy. But the point of mice being used/killed solely to become toys or hobbies....wow. I'm not a hippie but I can't help but wonder what people think when they are pinning insects to boards after killing them with ether or stuffing dead mice. Sorry I'm just not into killing things LOL. And no I'm not a vegetarian. I suppose if we were going to eat the mouse I'd be much happier with stuffing it. 

[garypcom]

The mice are already dead. Some pet supply stores sell them as food for other animals.

[help_us_lisa]

sooooo cute! i really like the bigger eyes, makes them look all the more precious. I'm hoping i can muster up the balls to try this myself in the near future! awesome instructable

[help_us_lisa]

aw what a cutie face! I kinda like taxidermy because it's like bringing them back to life :)

[btaubensee]

thanks so much for the great tutorial!!! did my first one last night - a success minus loss of tail. :( but i have 24 more to practice on! :D i am going to use them for an art project. thank you!

[btaubensee]

here's what i did with mine! thanks again :)

[softballch1k99]

disgusting..........creepy...........................odd...............gross.......................weird........................AWSEOME

[alhowell13]

why did u read this if u think it was disgusting?

[blackderby]

I was confused by this step at first. But then reading on you understand what happened here.

[TrnityOfTears]

Can I do this with a baby hamster??

[JusticeRose]

I wasn't too grossed out by this until I saw that she was pregnant :(
that's sad

[raja681]

sad that a pest that would have died or killed was going to have offspring and just make the population of disease spreading mice go up are you sad now

[JusticeRose]

Yes. Mice are rather clean animals. Any disease spread by mice/rats is from having to live in human waste products, or from getting ticks/fleas like any other animal (cats, dogs, etc) living outside could get.

[pwestra]

Is there a way of doing this without breaking any of the skull?

[darthbindy]

nice taxidermy guide 2 years ago i made a chipmunk pelt from road-kill but this is a way better idea!

[rat_man]

I am sooooo upset I had a rat and two mice skinned, and according to my Taxidermy Hand book I was to soak my hides in saturated borax and detergent water overnight. All the hair fell out :'C

[Tarantulady]

Ok, Canida... I read the whole thing twice and I've got all my supplies... Wish me luck on my little ratty! And, of course, thanks for this BRILLIANT tutorial! Maybe you can tell us how to taxidermy a tarantula sometime? I tried to preserve a really wonderfully giant specimen of g. rosea a few years ago, and my hands got badly burned and the tarantula disintegrated. I still don't know if it was her venom, digestive juices, or urticating hairs that ruined the project! (of course, the fact that I didn't wear gloves probably helped )

[zombiefire]

theres an easie way to preserve insects, get a srynge and some formulahyde, put some in the srynge and insert t in the body, then pin it to a cork board or you could preserve it in pouring resin.

hope this helps

[sandaili]

It's pretty much the same as the mouse. If the tarantula has a large abdomen, remove the contents as much as possible and fill with cotton. Then put it in a dry environment to dry out in the position you want. 

[canida]

Excellent, best of luck! I'd love to see the result. I previously kept pet mice and hamsters, so it's nice to have some of the little guys around keeping an eye on me in stuffed form. I hope yours works out. Unfortunately I don't know much about preserving tarantulas - if I find a resource I'll definitely pass it along.

[That Weasel]

i'd like to see one with a squirrel. i think it would be cool cuz of thir big bushy tails

[Tarantulady]

Well, it took all of last night, but I finally got it done! It's my first one, so there are obvious mistakes in the eyelids (I accidentally nicked one and split it!) and the tail got a rip, but considering my lack of experience I'm pretty happy with the results. I also simmered his skull clean and have it sitting in salt n_n I'll post pics when I find my damned camera! Thanks again for the tutorial!!!

[zombiefire]

do u think u could send me a pdf of ur instructable

[TheEbonyEmoFairy]

Can I use this same process to stuff a hamster?

[dogisdead]

I'm really confused by this step, could you possibly explain in more detail?

[dream of dmt]

i believe he has left the foot inisde of the pelt, cut off at the ankle. it seems to me that the wire/cotton stuffs are wrapped/tied around the remaining ankle bone.

[superMacaroni]

Yummy.....

[Darwinfish]

Looks like he's attaching wires to the original leg bones, then stuffing the bones back into the legs so that the joints are in the right place. The cotton pads it all like muscle, and the wire bends so that you can make your dead mouse into a disco star.

[Aztalr]

Is there any particular reason the incision is done on the back rather than leaving the skin cased or making the incision along the belly?

[SewLolita]

the bit about accidentally inserting the wire through the rectum made me giggle :(