probably the last update on Louie for a bit ! theres no where near as many flies swarming the tub (thank god T.T i forgot they should be sealed bc of that) but theres still some bigger maggots swimming in the water ! id guess theres some munching on the inside too , what a meal ! but he stinks alot less too which is nice :)
louie has been macerating for a little over a week now ! it stinks Real Bad but theres some baby maggots feasting on his bod :)
i found this poor guy on my way back home from work - i had been keeping a big tub and trash bags in my trunk in case i came across a bigger animal while driving so thankfully i was already prepared when i saw him. he mustve passed that day of maybe the night before because he wasnt stiff at all. it was very Surreal picking him up - the weight both physically and mentally was Alot. when i found him it looked like someone had ran over his poor head :( he had his eyeball popping out of its socket - i couldnt bring myself to check the other. i brought himn home and immediately started filling the tub with water - usually youre supposed to skin, gut, and flesh it to make the process alot faster and cleaner but i couldnt bear doing that yet. before this the rat was the "freshest" animal i had taken on , this guy was just alive a few hours beforehand T.T it wouldve been too much for me emotionally :( anyways while filling up the tub with a (slow) hose , i really just stood and took a second to take it all in. life and death all happens so fast.
after macerating in a tub of water for 6 weeks i opened it up to find what i could only describe as the hit movie Iron Lung (2026) T.T the guy had No Meat but the water was a deep Deep red , which Could be left over blood and marrow (though due to how Flat he is im not sure....) or it could also be bacteria growth ! i didnt get any pictures of it bc i didnt want to get That on my phone, but trust me , ocean of blood. i did get pictures of his bones, fur, and Other Stuff ! i eventually rinsed him all off and took out the fur after sifting through it for more tiny little bones. not pictured but i put him in a fresh tub of water just to get him nice and rinsed before the Degreasing process
this was the first time i had collected an animal this "fresh" , all of the ones ive collected before this were already almost fully decompsed , so i was really quite Squeamish picking this fella up. he had still died a good while before we had found him so he was really flat, not much Meat to him anymore. these are screenshots i took from a video i sent to my friends where i mainly just Touched him a bunch to desensitize myself as i want to really get into taxidermy more in the future- anyways i put him in a tuberware of water to macerate afterwards
