A mum transformed a dead rat into Gun N' Roses guitarist Slash for her son's birthday present - complete with his trademark hair, top hat and even a cigarette hanging from his lips. Nancy Thompson saved the rodent from becoming a pet shop snake's dinner and instead immortalised him as the iconic rocker from her spare bedroom.
After gutting and stuffing the animal, the mum-of-four dressed him in pint-sized clothing and accessories sourced by Gun N' Roses superfan son Kyle Thompson. Pictures show the rat wearing a white t-shirt and a tiny top hat planted on top of a huge black curly wig and clutching a guitar - all while apparently smoking.
The 53-year-old spent a week carefully styling him, but Nancy is still hunting down some finishing touches, including a mini microphone, before declaring him ready. Since sharing her quirky creation online the gothic pottery and jewellery stall founder, who's only been practising taxidermy for four months, was inundated with comments praising her work.
Nancy said: "I was a little apprehensive at first, but as I worked on him I could see the true likeness. I'm very proud of how he's turned out, and I can't wait to do another band rat."
Nancy was asked to create the rockstar rodent last month and sourced her subject from a pet shop that would have used it as snake feed. The self-taught taxidermist learned from watching YouTube videos, and despite admitting to feeling 'a little weird' at first, persevered and has now done a few pieces - including stuffing a friend's pet hamster.
(Kennedy News and Media)
Nancy said: "I learned from watching YouTube videos. There's quite a big market in taxidermy, so there are a lot of videos about it.
"I wanted to bring happiness back to people who had lost small pets. When I first started I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it and it did make me feel a little bit weird, but I pushed through and continued until it was complete.
"I've had lots of people message me saying Slash is brilliant. It's nice to put my taxidermy out there - especially with people's pets.
"After someone's pet has passed, it's nice to give it a new lease of life. No animals are injured when I do this. Everything is sourced based on what I pick up off the road or from pet shops that are going to use the animal as feed.
"I would never dream of injuring an animal for this kind of thing, everything is ethically sourced."
Warehouse worker Kyle, 37, was thrilled with his gift claiming it reminded him about listening to the band's hits as a kid. The dad-of-two said: "As I was growing up we had rock music on all the time. I loved stuff from the 80s and 90s, and one of my favourite bands is Guns N' Roses.
"I saw this little guitar online and I thought 'what could I do with this?' I thought my mum could make me Slash from Guns N' Roses.
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"I loved it, it looked better than I expected it would to be fair. I play the guitar as well, so that was the idea kind of piecing it all together.
"My kids love him, they love stuff like that, they find it cool."
After sharing her creation online, she was inundated with comments from people praising her skills.
One wrote: "Love it!"
Another commented: "We certainly need to commission one of these."
One wrote: "Your talents are endless."
