One day back in 2012 I think it was I was driving around with my little brother, who is also an artist, he was trying to come up with some ideas for gallery shows and telling me he wished he knew a taxidermist. I said "I bet I could figure that out", and so started my journey into the world of anthropomorphic mouse taxidermy. A little research a few YouTube videos and a couple failed attempts the I had my very first taxidermy mouse. He looked like a long haired artist, I gave him to my brother. And since I'm not good at going small, I jumped right into a full chess set. I had it out at a horror convention I shared a booth at with a friend, lots of people liked it but no buyers. It however get picked up by someone that shared it on the Internet and was featured on many websites, giving me the 15 minutes of fame I needed to get my shop on the right track.
I have been a reptile keeper both at home and in zoos since before I graduated from my associates degree program in zoo animal technology in 2005. As a reptile keeper I was no stranger to little dead rodents. I knew all I would need to do is order them frozen from rodent breeders that specialize in reptile food. I have had a lot of people message me upset that I use real mice and assume that I am a cruel mouse hater. I am far from it, I have no hatred for mice only a love for the creatures that rely on mice for food. I order all my mice from a distributor that breeds mice for reptile food, I use the mouse skins for taxidermy and my carnivorous lizards like them just fine without skin. My snakes however are picky and want the skin, so they get the mice that don't look pretty enough for taxidermy.
So that's my story, I currently live in central florida I work full time as a veterinary technician and full time as a mom, and all the other time goes to my shop. It makes for long hours and not much time for relaxing, but who need relaxation when I have the opportunity to get paid for doing something creative that I love. If you took time to read my story thanks, I appriciate it. If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or ideas please message me I can usually get back to you the same day. I love doing custom work it gives me a chance to make something new and I have never had a custom order I could not fill, including a green mouse riding a unicycle while lifting weights. True story I have pictures to prove it.