Has anyone tried making rat jerky..?

I just found this article.
Recipes for the post apocalypse: How and why to eat rat meat.

I mean, I plan to get to the point where I can feed my entire collection, my two ferrets, and perhaps even my future cat and dog rats. Breeding on such a large scale, im sure im going to have more than I need if Im breeding effectively. Of course, im going to freeze some, so Ill have them if I really need them, but what if im stocked up? What if no ones looking for a breeders or feeders on craiglist, and there is simply no one that needs a meal?

Might as well make some jerky right? Personally ive never had rat meat, so I have no idea how it would taste, but from the article it doesnt sound too bad. Theres other recipes too of course. And the womans absolutely right. It really is important for us all to have survival skills, and killing, skinning, and cooking our own meat is a very valuable thing to know how to do.

SO now I pose the questions.
-Have you ever cleaned cooked and eaten your rats?
-Would you try it if the circumstance arose?
-Where do you think it falls on the moral compass?
-Is skinning and cleaning the meat what would hold you back, or the fact that its a rat?

I can honestly say im not sure if I would do it. Im absolutely curious, but im also pretty squemish. I dont think Id have a problem with someone else doing it, but I couldnt handle the gutting :tears:
Have at it folks!

Wow, Riv, I was eating breakfast. :8: ;)

haha sorry. I suppose it IS a bit gruesome XD My fiance's uncle made squirrel jerky once(I wasnt brave enough to try it), so I figured it couldnt be COMPLETELY unheard of.

Deer jerky is the farthest I've gone down that road. I'm with you, though, on the idea of gutting a rat. Blech!

Omg I just got nauseas.
Rat meat..... It's not the apocalypse yet.


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Riv, sounds like you need to do an episode of Dooms Day Preppers!

Hahahaha. You dont even know Don. Ive got a bug out route already planned, guinea pigs ready to breed for meat if necessary, quiet lightweight and reusable weaponry, seed packets, an uninhabited island with plenty of rescources, and a list of 70 other people who have been instructed to meet my group(the fiance and room mates) at that location should zombies, nuclear war, or a hostile takeover occur. Dont get me wrong, I dont beleive that any of that is definitely going to be happening, but im pretty positive if you told me I had to get to a safe place and survive without civilation right this very minute I would be a-okay lol.

I tried offering my dog rat meat, she is use to eating raw, frozen raw, feet, eggs. But she didn't want the frozen rat. But she loves her live rats, so I decided to skin it. The frozen ones have a particular smell. Kind of like how they smell alive, but wet and just not appealing. Fresh pre killed rats are a lot worse, especially when you get to the organs. She still didn't want that rat, furred or skinned. I am not sure how other skinned animals smell, but if they smell anything like that, I may be turned off of meat completely. Do they all smell like that? Deer, rabbit, poultry?

Have you skinned anything yet? I was 100% confident that I would be fine with the sight of everything, but toss the smell in there and I was a little woozy.

Squirrel Jerky? Sign me up! I haven't had squirrel in years and you can't beat squirrel and gravy on rice. =D So take what I said about rats from someone who has already eaten squirrel.

As of this morning, I watched a videos of a rabbit, squirrel, and rat getting skinned. My fiance is a chef, and had always dealt with cleaning whatever animal he has cooked(though thats only like birds, and pigs) and has always told me not to worry about it so I never have. Said in the apocalypse he'd be doing that stuff haha.

But after watching it happen the sight bothers me a lot less than I thought it would. It was kind of like, to me once the skin was off it was a food item. A meat to be cooked and eaten. It was only a bunny till it didnt have a face anymore. I guess thats kind of how I feel about feeding snakes mice too though. Eventually you get to the point where that isnt snickers, the adorable pet rat. Thats Laila's dinner, and I cant get attached. I cant honestly say I know id be fine with it because I havent done it, but smell aside(I'd probably use a nose clip or something) the bare sight didnt affect me much.

And im not sure you would have like this squirrel jerky hahaha. The cousins all said is still had a metric ton of fur in it that they were brushing out of their teeth days later.

In a survival situation I can see eating pretty much anything. I've eaten a few things like gator, squirrel, rabbit even snake. To me in the post zombie apocalypse raising a healthy human consumable livestock is just not feasible. Thinking of things like no running water, no power for cooling, no food mill processing..I'd eat the ones I had and move on..

If i had to then i would have no problem doing it. Do i want to just to try it for fun? Helllll no lol.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

In a survival situation I can see eating pretty much anything. I've eaten a few things like gator, squirrel, rabbit even snake. To me in the post zombie apocalypse raising a healthy human consumable livestock is just not feasible. Thinking of things like no running water, no power for cooling, no food mill processing..I'd eat the ones I had and move on..

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I hear gator is deliscious! ive actually been thinking about how I could get my hands on some haha. Cant say ive ever had squirrel, rabbit, or snake, I keep on thinking to myself just man up and do it, but im not sure if I could XD

As far as livestock in the zombie apocalypse, youre right in a typical suburban or city area or even in the country areas closer to the cities livestock just wouldnt be an option. there simply isnt enough water, food and mobility. Luckily enough , my island is surrounded by freshwater, and guinea pigs could simply roam free and breed as there arent many things in the way of predators either. Maybe foxes. They dont have much meat, so it would pretty much be 1 person 1 guinea pig, but with high numbers it could easily fulfill your need for protein, and theyre chickens inside, so they only barely need a pen to contain them. So breedable meat is definitely possible, we just wouldnt be able to be picky with where it came from XD

Like I said, the SIGHT wasn't the problem. It was the SMELL.

Never had it, and if I had to I wouldn't have any problems preparing it. But I'm with Mike, not gonna go out and do it for fun, especially with deer season open!

I mean skewered rat on a stick over an open fire isn't bad but I prefer squirrel meat honestly. And I would rather have the smell from gutting a rat then accidentally paunching a deer or even worse a moose, now that my friend is a terrible smell.


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Originally Posted by aldebono

I tried offering my dog rat meat, she is use to eating raw, frozen raw, feet, eggs. But she didn't want the frozen rat. But she loves her live rats, so I decided to skin it. The frozen ones have a particular smell. Kind of like how they smell alive, but wet and just not appealing. Fresh pre killed rats are a lot worse, especially when you get to the organs. She still didn't want that rat, furred or skinned. I am not sure how other skinned animals smell, but if they smell anything like that, I may be turned off of meat completely. Do they all smell like that? Deer, rabbit, poultry?

Have you skinned anything yet? I was 100% confident that I would be fine with the sight of everything, but toss the smell in there and I was a little woozy.

Squirrel Jerky? Sign me up! I haven't had squirrel in years and you can't beat squirrel and gravy on rice. =D So take what I said about rats from someone who has already eaten squirrel.

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Wait..... Did you skin it alive for your dog?

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Wait..... Did you skin it alive for your dog?

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Nah i thought that too at first. The sentence just reads funny.

I dont feel like the amount of "meat" coming off the rat is worth the effort of gutting one.. I mean don't get me wrong if I was starving id eat it.. and if you offered it to me id def. try it. With that said I have eaten squirrel but I don't go out of my way to kill them.. If a kid gets one then ya Ill throw it in the pot.

p.s I have heard that guinea pigs are delicious.

Oh no! She loves to play with her live rats in a nice way, so I thought maybe she didn't like the frozen rat with hair on. She just doesn't like it period.

She loves her rats very much. She jump in the chair where I give the pets their free time so she can visit with them. She lets them lick inside her mouth, under her belly, over her back and she gently mouths them.

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Originally Posted by aldebono

Oh no! She loves to play with her live rats in a nice way, so I thought maybe she didn't like the frozen rat with hair on. She just doesn't like it period.

She loves her rats very much. She jump in the chair where I give the pets their free time so she can visit with them. She lets them lick inside her mouth, under her belly, over her back and she gently mouths them.

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Whew! I was reading that she loved EATING her live rats from this part. And I was thinking, surely not! LOL

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But she loves her live rats, so I decided to skin it.

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I've had squirrel, rabbit, deer, elk, moose, pheasant and grouse to name a few. All are quite tasty. Never had rat, but I guess if it came down to going hungry or eating a rat, I'd opt to eat them.

I would have no problems skinning or prepping it, but boy does that sound nasty.

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Chinese anyone? Lol.

Yep, would eat it if that's all there was, but not curious enough to go grab anybody out of my racks and try munching on em. I've gutted rabbits and birds and I gotta agree, it's the smell that gets you. Ugh.

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So it does all smell the same on the inside? Yuck...

I've never tried making rat jerky... But when I offer mice to my ferrets, their left over body parts dry out so fast it turns into a jerky themselves. The weasels have no problem eating it. haha
If I had to, I would eat a rat. I have no problems trying one, but as I'm not in a survival situation, I'd rather not eat any of my ratties. Plus, I don't think I'll get any meat off the females. I'd probably have to harvest some big rat bucks to satisfy any sort of meal.
The smell of an open carcass doesn't bother me. I've dissected many animals, so I can't really smell it any more....

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Originally Posted by sissysnakes

p.s I have heard that guinea pigs are delicious.

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I've heard the same! I really want to try one.(I know my ferrets want to)

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Originally Posted by ChrisS

Chinese anyone? Lol.

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Half.
And sorry. We only eat cats....

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Half.
And sorry. We only eat cats....

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WOW to ^ and lol! And to the guinea pigs: they taste just fine. I went to Peru in college and had guinea pig; cooked over an open fire and besides being lean and a little dry, it tasted just fine to me. I survived the experience none the worse for wear and didn't develop any illness after eating it. Similar to rabbit in texture/consistency of the meat but the flavor is different. Never tried rat but if it were that or starve, I'd take a nice Dumbo Rex ribeye any day, lol! Now that said, I'm not going to go grill one of my pups up for a snack or anything but I hunt and fish so preparing an animal that isn't pre-packaged doesn't phase me in the least.

You want smell, try skinning a muskrat. Their musk glands aren't too bad but they eat grass/legumes and when you skin one and expose their intestines...wowza! Talk about a gut punch...hahahaha! Pun intended but wow...they can be pretty rank. About like a lawn mower with wet grass that's started to ferment, x10. Nasty but their pelts are nice, not mention the damage they can do to streams and ponds with soil erosion.

Ugh. All I eat is chicken, beef and bacon.

I've been tricked into eating deer (eew!), and have tried alligator. It tastes like chicken but is kind of rubbery. Couldn't eat more than a bite.

Couldn't eat a rat.

I'm screwed if there's an apocalypse. Lol

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

Ugh. All I eat is chicken, beef and bacon.

I've been tricked into eating deer (eew!), and have tried alligator. It tastes like chicken but is kind of rubbery. Couldn't eat more than a bite.

Couldn't eat a rat.

I'm screwed if there's an apocalypse. Lol

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Deer in sausage sticks is not bad. Elk however, is too gamey for me.

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Oh, Hello taco bell. You were much better the first time. :puke2:

I like to think of myself as pretty open minded when it comes to food, but I think I'd have to be on drugs to try that, even post-apocalypse.

Those of you that are squeamish may not want to read this lol. Yes I have eaten rat. It's a little chewy imo. I've also eaten dog, cat, snake, bear, horse, elk, deer, skunk, coon,goat, grub worms, and a whole lot of other little critters lol. If its served to me and I get a fork in it before it gets off of my plate its ate. Most of the truly weird stuff was eaten over seas. I grew up dirt poor and hunted my entire life so killing and skining an animal isn't even a little weird to me. Trust me if we were stranded far from civilization you wouldn't go hungry with me around. Just don't ask what's for dinner you are probably better off not knowing. Lol

I'll try just about anything once. I would probably give it a shot if I raised the rat and knew exactly what it had been exposed to. Wild rats are another story but in a survival situation I wouldn't even think twice.

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Originally Posted by Bellatrix_LeSnake

I'd have to be on drugs to try that, even post-apocalypse.

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You can make a safe bet that if there is an apocalypse during my lifetime, I will be stockpiling and abusing drugs rampantly.

Dear god. My female agouti FINALLY dropped a massive liter for me! Not sure how many babies I got, but before this one shes only popped out 5 or 6 at a time.

Anyway, im glad to hear so many people would at least do it if they needed to haha. For those of you who have experience skinning game, is it like you cut it open and want to instapuke? Or does it just wear on you as you go? I feel like if I WAS cooking rat, id probably try to mkae it all chinesey. An orange or lemon sauce, some lo mein, maybe some peppers. If you put the right stuff on it I bet you wouldnt even taste it much.

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Originally Posted by Riv

For those of you who have experience skinning game, is it like you cut it open and want to instapuke? Or does it just wear on you as you go?

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Congrats on your agouti litter! :)

I don't know about other food animals, but I've opened up quite a number of rats and mice.
For me, the odor isn't really instant and doesn't hit me in the face. It smells mostly like that iron-y blood scent. It's once you get down to the intestines, it really smells nasty. All that gross poopy smell starts wafting out.
Basically, if you've smelled fresh wet rat poop, that's about the worst it gets.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Congrats on your agouti litter! :)

I don't know about other food animals, but I've opened up quite a number of rats and mice.
For me, the odor isn't really instant and doesn't hit me in the face. It smells mostly like that iron-y blood scent. It's once you get down to the intestines, it really smells nasty. All that gross poopy smell starts wafting out.
Basically, if you've smelled fresh wet rat poop, that's about the worst it gets.

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Wow I might be okay then. Ive gotten nose bleeds incessantly since I was a kid, and every time I get one that irony blood scent lingers for the entire day, so im used to that. And the rat poop smell has never bothered me too much. I mean I can man up to a NASTY cage with no gloves, and without holding my breath if I have to.(Have to shower afterwards, but I get the job done first haha)