# Memorializing Your Rat



## MeepMoop (Jan 8, 2016)

Hello everyone!!! What are ways to memorialize your rats? I'm in a bunch of rat groups on Facebook, and I saw a post recently of a painting someone had made by having their rats step in non-toxic kids paint and walk across the canvas. In addition to that idea, commissioning someone to draw a picture of your furbaby, or make a sculpture, comes to mind. Anything else you guys can think of, though? GIVE ME SOME SUGGESTIONS! ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF! ;D


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## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

On the topic of paw prints, I think it's nice to make a paw print in clay because that will last forever if not broken. For my memorials I make a mini-sculpture as each of my pets passes. It's part of my moving-on and once the sculpture is complete I can get another animal, not before.


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## MeepMoop (Jan 8, 2016)

Oh! Clay sounds interesting, especially since my heart rat is elderly and has trouble grooming herself, so I wouldn't want to put her through the painting process I described above. Too messy. I'm not well -ersed in clay, though, haha. What kind do you buy? How do you get it to harden? (I know that last question I could Google.  ) Basically, what's your whole procedure?


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## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

With a clay footprint you can personalize it, setting marbles in it, carving in it, and painting once it's hardened. Just make sure whichever clay you use is soft enough that you can get a nice print without squishing the rat's foot.

There are two main kinds of clay, air drying and kiln drying/baking. 

Air drying is exactly how it sounds. You leave it out to dry and once it's hard you're set. The upside to it is that it's very easy to use and you can put things in it that would be ruined in an oven during the baking. The downside to this is that once it's open you're on a time limit and it can't be kept and used again later.

Kiln drying or baking clay is clay that will remain palpable indefinitely until you fire or bake it, at which point it hardens. This is the kind of clay I prefer. The upside to it is you're on unlimited time and can just use the little bit you'll need and store it for later. The downside is that baking can be tricky for a novice and you risk over baking your clay and burning it.

The brand I use is Sculpey. You can find it at most any craft store. I use this for making sculptures as well and it's great. If you're making footprints I'd go with regular Sculpey. The Super Sculpey is more dense and a lot tougher so you'd kinda have to squish your baby's foot to get a decent print. Hope this has helped you.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Not that I would do it, but when my mom was a kid.... way back in the early 1900's it wasn't uncommon to have expired pets sent to a taxidermist. I saw a TV show some years ago on a taxidermist that still does pets and he was working on a hairless rat for someone... People sent him their deceased pets frozen. Somehow it didn't seem all that strange after my mom told me she grew up with my grandfather's stuffed dog.... I think there was a stuffed dog on a TV show about interns some years ago too.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Rat Daddy said:


> Not that I would do it, but when my mom was a kid.... way back in the early 1900's it wasn't uncommon to have expired pets sent to a taxidermist. I saw a TV show some years ago on a taxidermist that still does pets and he was working on a hairless rat for someone... People sent him their deceased pets frozen. Somehow it didn't seem all that strange after my mom told me she grew up with my grandfather's stuffed dog.... I think there was a stuffed dog on a TV show about interns some years ago too.


There was a woman in the news maybe 2 months ago, she had her son preserved (stuffed in a way, can't remember the correct term right now). I think it was in Mexico. She had her son sit in a chair during his funeral. I don't remember if she planned on having him buried after that or to keep him in her living room😮


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Someone made stuffed rats on Etsy that looked like the deceased rat. All you had to do is send the person a few pics of your rat. Personally, I haven't done any of that. I love to take pics and videos, which will make the best memories too. I had my rat cremated as I live in a condo. I kept her ashes.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I read here that someone burred their rat in a large flower pot so that they could take it along when they moved.


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## thyme (May 25, 2009)

Seconding the paw prints in clay idea. 

Not my vet, but another vet in the area actually sent my friend some prints off one of her girls when she was pts. A different vet did the same thing with my dog, although the clay wasn't baked yet. It came with instructions and a sympathy card.


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## Adrasteia (Apr 1, 2016)

I put a topic in 'The Lounge' about making small clay models of members rats they'd like them, a sort of chibi version. Not life size but something small and sweet to remember our past pets by.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

Adrasteia said:


> I put a topic in 'The Lounge' about making small clay models of members rats they'd like them, a sort of chibi version. Not life size but something small and sweet to remember our past pets by.


I'll probably be ordering some after I get more cash flow. I'd do it myself, but sculpture was not my best class.

Honestly I just set up a scrapbook on Facebook and keep everything there. I've tried making paw prints, but generally I don't remember until it's too late, and rigor mortis is not a forgiving time to make a paw print. Gruesome, but a fact.

Taxidermy in general just freaks me out. I can't imagine having any of my boys on my shelf. I don't even like handling their bodies afterwards. I guess it's just because a piece of me looks at the body and understands that they aren't in there anymore. Crying over it feels empty and insincere.

But the statues, I think, are a great idea.


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

Well, even as someone who likes taxidermy and maybe one day would like to get into it (though i'm more interested in skeletons and bones than mounting pelts), I still wouldn't get my pets taxidermised, thats weird. Besides, there are few taxidermists with the skill to actually do justice to such a small, fragile animal. Or even a dog for that matter. Frankly, I'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars to have my rats turned into disfigured ferrets with T-rex arms. My god, the ferret bodies, its like they've never seen a live rat before. However, I have considered keeping their skeleton or at the very least their skulls.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

I might keep a skull, but the work required to get said skull is just too much for me. I get queasy easily.


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## rottengirl (Mar 16, 2016)

Hmm, I'd probably do the clay thing. I think the taxidermy one would actually be pretty sweet, hope that won't be too expensive where I'm from. I might memorialize my rats with a tattoo as well. We will see.


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## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

Haha if I got a tattoo for every rat I've owned then I won't have a bare inch of skin left lol. I've got too many for that. I'll stick with my mini-sculptures.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

Lol, I thought about having the original members of my mischief on my left calf. Not sure about it yet.


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## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

I'll probably get a rat tattoo at some point but not yet.


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## Adrasteia (Apr 1, 2016)

RatAtat2693 said:


> I'll probably be ordering some after I get more cash flow. I'd do it myself, but sculpture was not my best class.Honestly I just set up a scrapbook on Facebook and keep everything there. I've tried making paw prints, but generally I don't remember until it's too late, and rigor mortis is not a forgiving time to make a paw print. Gruesome, but a fact.Taxidermy in general just freaks me out. I can't imagine having any of my boys on my shelf. I don't even like handling their bodies afterwards. I guess it's just because a piece of me looks at the body and understands that they aren't in there anymore. Crying over it feels empty and insincere.But the statues, I think, are a great idea.


I'll be making them for free, if you'd like you can be my first .....customer? I dunno what to call it since there would be no money exchanged


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## rottengirl (Mar 16, 2016)

InuLing said:


> Haha if I got a tattoo for every rat I've owned then I won't have a bare inch of skin left lol. I've got too many for that. I'll stick with my mini-sculptures.


Hehehe I knew someone would say this. Too right, my entire body will probably be covered if I got one for every pet. I'm thinking a general rat or one from my childhood to memorialize them all. Or MissSix's rat King rat design (in the marketplace).


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## mis.kay (May 29, 2015)

I receive clay pawprints from my vet after they have passed. I have a rainbow bridge section on my wall. I put cute little sayings on the wall, like the ones written on pictures, or wooden frames and I have a picture of each of my lost ratties on the wall. I also hang their pawprints somewhere beside them. I would love to do the potted plant one, but unfortunately my mother does the gardening and she is not savvy to this idea. Perhaps when I get my own house this will be my memorial for them.


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## Toxicat (Jan 18, 2015)

I was just talking about this with my boyfriend. I've been wanting to make a big charcoal or watercolor picture of them and framing it for our room.


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## CourteesRatties (Feb 23, 2016)

when they pass getting a flower pot and putting their body in it and plant something then they're part of that plant forever!


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