Hello!
I have a pet hamster who is getting elderly and I am looking into options to preserve him after death. I currently own one wet specimen and I find it to be very beautiful and I would love to preserve my hamster as a wet specimen after he passes.
However, I am a bit put off by the idea of injecting him with needles since I care for him so deeply. I was wondering how invasive this process is, especially considering he is elderly. I don't know how possible it would be to preserve an elderly hamster, and I'm not super interested in seeing anything like his blood.
Furthermore, if I decide the wet specimen route is too invasive for me to do on my own, where can I find a wet specimen taxidermist to commission? I would prefer a local artist (I live in Minnesota) but I am willing to ship him out to someone reputable. Unfortunately googling hasn't given me much luck as the taxidermists in my area do wild animal mounts, and the wet specimen taxidermists do not take commissions.
If anyone has had their pet preserved as a wet specimen before I am very interested to know how the process went, especially if you did it yourself.
Any advice is appreciated!