Far from the austere environment where she works during the week, Ratapoule has a much more original hobby on weekends: stuffing small animals, with a weakness for rodents!
This unusual pastime did not fall from the sky… As a child, the 24-year-old young woman dreamed of becoming a veterinarian or medical examiner. “But I didn’t like math very much, unfortunately discriminating for the two courses. It was a taxidermy tutorial that enlightened me on the possibility of exercising my passion for anatomy and science”, explains Ratapoulpe. Inspired by Ratatouillethe Disney film, and her nickname “Octopus”, her nickname ensures her anonymity which protects her from malicious people.
“I don’t kill any animals, since the rodents I use, which are already dead, are sold as frozen food for snakes, she explains. But sometimes I receive a few “Yuck!” messages on Instagram or on Le Bon Coin, where I sell my creations, in the “Decoration” section and not “Animals”! Fortunately, it’s very rarely aggressive.” Disgust, she feels on her side none for her “work”, far from any sentimentality.
“The trickiest thing is to separate the membrane between the skin and the flesh so as not to pierce the fur”
Unlike the surgeon, she never puts her hands in the blood and the viscera, since the animals come to her “dehydrated”, as she says with a smile. One of his goals? Rehabilitate the image of mice and rats by showing them in a “kawaii” light, that is to say cute…
But that’s still not his primary goal: “What interests me the most is the exercise itself, which requires knowledge, experience and meticulousness. The trickiest thing is to separate the membrane between the skin and the flesh so as not to pierce the fur. Then, contrary to embalming, the purpose of which is to avoid the putrefaction of the organs, I empty the animal to fill it with wadding. The spine and the face are held together thanks to modeling clay. For more flexibility, I also remove the thigh bone”, explains Ratapoulpe cleverly.
For the staging, she gives free rein to her imagination, when she does not obey a command
It is by practicing that she has developed her own tricks, helped by tutorials and forums. For the staging, she gives free rein to her imagination, when she does not obey an order: “You can ask me anything. My biggest headache is the props, because I have to make everything, from broom to the skirt through the hat. The patterns for dolls are not suitable.”
At the rate of one animal per weekend, she quickly became an expert in rodents and she wants to go further: “I’m starting to work on hamsters and guinea pigs, but I won’t go to beyond the size of the big rabbit.”
The gaze of others is more often intrigued than frightened
However, the complexity is not due to the size, but to the thickness of the skin: “The rat is easier to treat than the mouse”, explains this enthusiast, for whom it is the first hobby, even if she continues bodybuilding. and pole dancing, more classic.
As for the gaze of others, it is more often intrigued than frightened: “I don’t hide what I do, even at the office. In general, my friends want to understand and attend a session at home”, s she amuses, far from any morbid spirit. “What I enjoy is continuing to learn how to make dead animals look alive.” With a touch of poetry.