#mustelids I love you

[thiss-too-shall-pass]

American Badger

[nepeteaa]

Shop Update on Tuesday 2/14 (Valentines Day!) at 12pm EST! See ya there :-) 💌

[teatitty]

Undertaker sees Grell as something of a stoat or polecat. Just an adorably sweet mustelid like creature he can slink around himself and pick up and hold and coo over, heedless of her teeth as she bites down on his hands and fingers

Like a mustelid, she is fast and agile and elegant and sleek, a symbol of womanhood and class. And just like a mustelid, she will always blindside you when you learn just how violent and cruel she can be

[sealcore]

love being in a pine marten shift because i cant stop thinking about carrying an entire egg in my mouth & running off with it

real image of me ⬇️

[bob-artist]

Hi, New People?

For some unfathomable reason, Tumblr has decided to suggest my blog to brand-new accounts to follow, so I've had a crazy influx of followers who, of the ones that are genuine accounts, probably have no idea what they've signed up for. (sorry.)

Oh, and I also have some new bittern-loving followers who have a slightly better idea but might not know the whole story!

So, here's your chance to escape, if you so choose.

Anyway, I'm Bob! I've been here since like 2012. I mostly make comics, but I also do some prose writing, game dev, and general shitposting. Should you choose to continue following me, you will be subjected to such content as

Canada geese.

Like... a LOT of Canada geese.

Also ferrets, the love of my life. And other art and general musings about my favorite animals, including but not limited to bitterns, grebes, pheasants, parrots, crayfish, eels, every single other type of mustelid, alpacas, etc.

But, because I can't be bothered to make myself a consistent "brand," I also make

Very Gay Comics.

I can't emphasize this enough, because I kinda suspect all those plumbing company blogs didn't know this before following me. I make very gay comics.

I'm working on a new webcomic called Into the Smoke that's gonna launch soon. It's about a gay medium who binds himself to a killer ghost, and I think my new follower with the car financing blog is gonna love it.

Lots more on that soon.

Anyway, I don't want to make a super long post. I just want to make sure y'all understand that if you follow me, you will get

Canada geese

and

Very Gay Comics.

Cool? Cool.

[art]

Meet the Artist: @nepeteaa

I'm Bird Warde, a queer illustrator and hobby naturalist from New England. My art is inspired by my love of nature, especially birds!  I spend most of my time drawing, birding, and running my online shop Camp Mustelid with my partner. We make outdoorsy-themed goodies and apparel featuring all your favorite flora and fauna! Thanks for checking out my work!

Pleased to meet you, Bird! Here are some of their art pieces below.

For more of Bird’s art, be sure to check out their Tumblr, @nepeteaa!

[radiocmyk]

Actually my answer to "would you do it permanently" isn't nuanced but it is more complicated than just "yes" and I'm curious if others have the same stipulations, so here—

*Poll is open to both physical humans and physical nonhumans if you have any kind of physical or social species dysphoria at all. It's meant for animals mostly but the title was getting too long so if you're a mythical being then you can just apply your own versions to the answers.

My answer has always been the second one, because I wouldn't hesitate for half a second to change to a (fully) raven, hawk, mustelid etc. body, because my dysphoria is mostly physical; my hesitation has always been about the fact that the response is always given as "I'd change permanently and go live fully as an animal." I like my life, my friends and family and being an artist and listening to music and everything, and I'd be so chill with being physically a bird but everyone knows it's me, is OK w/ it, and I get to continue doing the things I love.

[niece-jemima]

I recognize James Dean, at the very least!

First guy is giving me mouse vibes, his smile is too sweet and the way he's lifting his head up is super reminiscent of rodents. I think he'd be a golden mouse! Something pretty but not overly fancy

Now I haven't actually seen RWaC (but my parents got me a James Dean poster for Christmas while I was in highschool for some reason) but I'm American so I of course know the gist of it + have seen the cliff chicken car scene

I think he'd be a Wolverine! A fierce all-american critter, the wolverine is incredibly independent and imo super cool looking!

^i could see this dude leaning against a car with his hand in a jacket pocket (god I hope that's actually James Dean or I'm gonna look SO STUPID)

As for the last guy... I can see that he likes hunting by the pheasants in the background, and he gives me kinda sneaky vibes.

He's an Ermine, also called a stoat! They're actually in the same family as wolverines, the mustelids! They're known for their gorgeous winter coat and capacity for violence. I could wax poetic forever about mustelids, but instead, here's the ermine in both summer and winter coats

Saw an anti doing this, so selfshippers, send me an image of your F/O and I'll give em a fursona!

[sculk-veined]

Life series design ideas i'm gonna slowly work on (not series specific but i'm kind of developing an overarching garden theme accidentally)

Garden Life

rosy maple moth fairy lizzie with her polyphemus moth fairy husband joel hyping her up from the sidelines

Snail gem with a beautiful decorated detachable turquoise shell that expands into a cottagecore house

creaking tree BigB and sapling Scott as a willow and flower dryad each respectively

pearl could be a sparrow person or a human shepherd figurine (not sure on it rn) but her army of dogs could either stay (ceramic) dogs or be little caterpillars. she guards the sunflower patch

bdubs would make a great stoat/other mustelid, though the way he keeps his houses so specific reminds me of a little beatrix potter dormouse

mumbo and tango and impulse are all borrower-type tiny humans but they're all in your house chewing on your wires and taking apart your toaster for the heating coils and resistors and redstone

martyn is a boggart like in spiderwick chronicles, he likes making messes and mischief and leaving thumbtacks on chairs when he gets into your house

skizz seems like he'd be a little garden statue of a knight, something to match his chivalry, maybe he's a fountain statement piece

cleo seems more like a Lost Thing, like she's a barbie that got left in the dirt by the previous owner's child that you dig up when you're trying to plant carrots

jimmy is a canary that escaped from his cage one day and never looked back, he would tell stories about the inside of the house and the giant watching things that would have him sing for them but his voice is hoarse now so he doesn't sing anymore (and that's his choice)

etho is a fox. no notes i love that interpretation

rendog is a little action figure who got lost like cleo but remembers the child who would turn him into a tyrant king whenever he was played with

grian is a male cardinal (because the red obv) bird person who's a bit of a daredevil and who hits windows quite a bit

going to draw these and post them so keep an eye out, if you draw this (before or after i do) please @ me so i can see!

[elodieunderglass]

Delicious in Dungeon and Weasel Heart in Defiance are wonderful (as is the Sharpe story; my inner teenage crush on Sgt Harper was immediately rekindled).

My ask is a silly one. I'm writing a story where a spell/knot of spells/magical algorithm briefly posessess a weasel. That's actually pretty normal in my setting -- but normal doesn't make a good story. The spells should dissipate after their task is done; instead of fading away it retains the weasel-shape and weasel-spirit (not the weasel itself; it goes home just fine) and becomes Something Else. (Her name is "I.")

The ask: what advice would Bee offer to the newly enweaseled? (Provided she's willing to advise without hire, of course. Don't want to cause any issues with the union.)

(In reference to the absurd crop of daemon AUs I’ve randomly written this year, and Bee the least weasel from Weasel Heart / His Delicious Materials)

Thank you so much! I love this!

Bee does have a secret weakness for silly and trashy fiction, according to a joke scene in HDM that I’ll never probably be able to fit in anywhere, so she would be super into The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is part of the Penric and Desdemona series, in which wild demons (scraps of elemental chaos) sometimes possess animals and imprint on them, picking up their intelligence; after passing through human hosts they become humanised. In the setting, a person who catches a sufficiently advanced/humanised demon becomes a sorcerer and can do chaos magic. In Assassins the characters meet someone who has taken on a wild new weasel demon. So her first advice would be to passionately insist that your weasel ought to pick up this story, because it’s Representation. She would REALLY like to be part of a mustelid book club. Would “I” like to be in the book club with her -

(This is where she slightly diverges from her human, who, to Bee’s annoyance, in the belief that it would help him avoid a conversation, has claimed in front of witnesses that he “couldn’t read.”)

For more advice she offers VERY reasonable retainer! daily rates payable in advance.

[gay-little-izzet]

It was only a matter of time before I sent this ask around... What kind of animal would your oc turn into on Bloomburrow?

Decided to answer for three ocs because fuck it!

Well I actually already drew Veena as a frog but. I think you should all see it again.

My phyexian-sona fellow would be a mink! Sorry it’s not more…inorganic; I’d love to draw phyrexia x bloomburrow at some point; I just love mustelids so much it hurts. But I have it on good authority that minks are very oily beings.

Finally….a little oc I’m cooking that I haven’t actually posted human art of yet! But maybe soon… Anyways, he’s a rat, even if he looks less wild and more domestic….as if he’s some sort of….lab rat……

[amerricanartwork]

RW Headcanon: The Omnivores and the Carnivores

Figured I'd start sharing some headcanons! Buckle up, folks, this is gonna be a looooooooong post! With a bit of Artimand sprinkled in (hope you like it @melissa-titanium)!

This was based on an idea lingering in the back of my mind for a bit, but after drawing the above image from a previous post I got reminded of it and decided to develop it a little more! I'll put the full headcanon down below!

By the way, I should warn you that the verbosity habit in my post asking about headcanons was no joke. This headcanon, as I've explained it below, is literally almost 700 words...

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I headcanon that there are two subspecies of “wild type” slugcats — omnivores and carnivores. I like the idea that slugcats were descended from a pipe-cleaning organism (although I still see them as mustelids rather than mollusks, but that’s a headcanon for another day…), so in this headcanon, a carnivorous variant of the slugcat ancestor was made to be more specialized for killing pests. Back when the Ancients were still around, they had a reputation similar to that of real-life raccoons and pigeons, while the omnivorous slugcats were more-often kept as pets.

As of the present Rain World timeline, though, omnivorous and carnivorous slugcats look almost identical. Omnivorous slugcats are still more iconic — they’re what you’d think of when one says “slugcat” — but the biggest differences the carnivorous variant possesses are their sharper teeth, stronger jaws, and sharper claws. Carnivorous slugcats also tend to be more muscular, while omnivorous slugcats have more body fat due to their largely plant-based diet.

Culturally, though, the two subspecies show more contrast. Omnivores are more peaceful hunter-gatherers who focus on trying to passively get by in a bigger, more dangerous world. Carnivores, on the other hand, are active hunters who tend to encourage combat training more and pride themselves on rising up to the ferocity of larger predators. The two tend to live separately in their own colonies, and don’t interact too often. There’s also some degree of prejudice in each group towards the other due to these cultural differences; not enough to cause large-scale conflicts, but enough that they side-eye each other occasionally. In more extreme cases, omnivores are perceived by the carnivores as weak, lazy, and meek, while omnivores see the carnivores as aggressive, loud, and cynical.

To bring it back to the image above, in my own personal fic-idea concept thing of how Artificer and Gourmand get together, this prejudice is a minor, but additional reason why they never expect to fall in love with each other; Arti is descended from a small group of carnivorous slugcats modified with explosive spit, while Gourm and the rest of the slugcats in his colony are all natural omnivores. Combine that with the rest of their attitudes in life, and at first, it seems they’re just too different to ever make a good pair.

A few more quick thoughts about these two subspecies:

Survivor and Monk are both naturally omnivorous. Hunter and Spearmaster, while directly engineered, were both derived from the carnivorous subspecies, while Rivulet was derived from the omnivorous subspecies.

Despite Gourmand being a natural omnivore, he eats larger prey more often than any other slugcat in his colony both out of curiosity for how other meats taste and because, true to his name, he honestly just likes to eat whatever (hey, as long as it’s edible)! However, once he and Artificer get together, he really starts to eat more meat from the creatures he hunts for her. And, interestingly enough, because he likes to use fruits and other plants as side dishes or as toppings to add flavor, this causes Arti to start eating more plants (now that’s what I call a “balanced diet”)! 

Even though the carnivores are culturally more similar to scavengers, the omnivores tend to get along better with them due to their more peaceful attitude, and the fact they naturally compete less with the scavengers for food (I like to imagine scavengers as pack-hunting carnivores).

Carnivores tend to move slightly faster than omnivores.

Carnivores often have bigger, more ravenous appetites than omnivores because they require more energy on average. Again, it’s partly what the image above is referencing!

Back when the Ancients lived, there actually existed a bit of a friendly discourse around which variant of the slugcat ancestors made better pets. It was in a similar vein to the modern “cat person vs. dog person” idea, but, to some degree, it’s actually continued on in various iterator groups, including the main one! FP, NSH, SRS, and CW are firm believers in carnivore superiority, UI passionately cheers on the omnivores, and Moon just giggles in the background and makes sure the debates don’t get too heated (but is also secretly team omnivore).

Anyway, with that said, BIG thanks to anyone who made it all the way down here! This headcanon originally formed as a way to explain in-universe the noticeably different diets of the main slugcat characters, but I just couldn't help adding more to it!

Let me know what you think of this concept, if you have anything to add to it, or if you'd like to see more of my headcanons! I just LOVE developing fictional worlds from ergonomic, analytical, and narrative perspectives, so if you want more, I've definitely got it!

[endfrost12]

Ok so I had another fic idea that I need to share and if someone wants to write it go for it.

I've read a couple of fics where Stiles is either a werewolf or a werefox and so I had an idea if there are weres that are wolves, foxes, coyotes, and jaguars.

So why not were Stiles is a were honey badger or just any meber of the mustelid family. Stiles in the fox fics can be a little shit, so just imagine how much of a chaos gremlin/junkie he would be with the instincts and skills of a honey badger.

If anyone is curious why i say chaos junkie? look up the story of Stoffel the honey badger and that should provide some light.

And yes Mustelids also include ferrets, weasels, otters, wolverines and stoats. So you could go with ine of them as well.

So hey if he's a were otters it be used as a reason on how he managed to hold up Derek in the pool.

Main thing that came to my head with this idea is Stiles being a were sea otter were with a full shift ability and he's just clinging to Derek's leg demanding attention and pets while the others watch the scene in amusement, and Derek would look down at Stiles with slight annoyance and a lot fondness and love.

If anyone knows if there's is a fic with this idea or again if someone wants to write this leave a comment.

[hoofpeet]

I know you've seen stoats, but have you seen martens?

Yeassss I love mustelids of all kind :] there should be emojis for every kind of small long animal

[dopscratch]

My Slugcat Designs

gaze upon the glory of my slugcats, i have gone full mollusk :)

feel free to use with credit! also show me if you do hahaha

fun design details/headcanons under the break

edit: find out why they're all tubemammals instead of felines here

All of them are mostly Smooth Creatures, no fur in sight. Also all of their limbs can be retracted into their bodies because slug. They each have a maximum of 3 fingers and 2 toes, though some have none at all. They are all toothless and instead possess radulae. Some have beaks and some don't, but I haven't decided which ones. The hunter is the only one with a confirmed beak. Beaks are all dark in color.

Monk is Tall because I said so. Lonk. Also I noticed its tentacles are slightly larger than survivors. Also I like the tall little sibling thing because it's funny to me.

Survivor is very average all around. Maybe slightly on the short side.

Hunter is squid. That is all (Not really). Hunter is an absolute beast and I really liked the idea of rotating colossal squid hooks instead of claws. Also squid worked really well for its long legs form :) Edit: As its rot progresses, its orangey color fades (read: parts of its skin start peeling off) and it becomes pinker like its ingame sprite until it becomes that sickly pink of Hunter Long Legs!

I thought the Spanish Dancer really invoked the tattered ribbons of the explosion spears. Also I know it's an aquatic slug and Artificer is terrible in water but I think the flailing to swim around really fits it haha. Also its a skunk because of the whole chemical weapon theme.

Gourmand is an absolute unit. It is very round. I don't have much else to say about it.

I love axolotls but they're overrated, so instead of having the gills of everyone's favorite neotenic Mexican salamander, Rivulet is an octopus. It can use the pink tentacles around its face to hide its big silly eyes if its scared. It can also stretch them out to look bigger. the space in between is webbed, just like in an octopus, though the webbing is not always visible when the tentacles are folded back or in a relaxed position. It has suckers on the back edges and can twist the tentacles around if it wants to use them to grab or hold something near its face. Its arms and legs can extend to great lengths but they cannot support Rivulet on land very well so they usually stay short then (or will only push it up a short height). A siphon on its underside lets it move faster underwater and it may spray water with it playfully.

Spearmaster is also very long like Monk. The spears are pulled from underneath the shell rather than straight out of the tail.

Saint is a sea sheep, complete with the silly closely placed eyes. Its "tongue" is just a tentacle. Also it's short. And a raccoon because I just felt like it fits.

Nightcat is a scaly-foot gastropod because I said so. I think that since it's a pretty mysterious creature it can get a pretty mysterious feature, though with a generally basic silhouette.

Enot/Inv/???/whatever you wanna call it is just cuttlefish. A wild, crazy creature whose colors, shape, number of arms, and texture are never consistent. It is dense and will not float well. Usually its tentacles and limbs have a bit of a curl to the ends.

I think a flamboyant cuttlefish was perfect for its design, and I chose a yellow mongoose because a) silly creature and b) it's not actually a mustelid so it kinda fits how incredibly weird this guy is.

and that is all, hope you enjoy my slugcats.

[cornkernelle]

THE GIANT OTTER LONG POST --------------------------------------

A bunch of lore and art for Otto, and his past as a monster hunter of the Mustelid Guild. He is from a long bloodline of Giant Otters, which grow much larger than the average cookie.

He initially wasn't a monster hunter at all. For most of his early adult life, he lived in solitude on his own boat. A cookie with a deep love of the sea and it's riches. Thanked her for all of his catches, and it's welcoming depths. He had his first encounter with a monster during a fishing trip, and had successfully killed it. Not wanting to waste the living being, he took what he could from it and cooked it. Then, it all clicked, and his exotic tastes came to be. He continued to hunt monsters to cook, looking for new ways to eat and process them as he went along. The Mustelid Guild saw him and his thick durable fur as an asset, and offered him a membership. He was able to sell the non-edible parts of his catches to them for a profit, and so he accepted. His main weapon is a collection of rocks (different kinds, illustration shows one type) that he uses to bludgeon and break thick skin and armor.

Any dough underneath that fur was either calloused or highly scarred, the nastiest one being on his back. It was from the only sea creature he was hurt by, who still continues to lurk under the waves to this day. It's acidic fluids burnt all the hair on his behind. He takes pride in his cooking and creating dishes from sea beasts. It's the thing he talks about the most to cookies. Ask him to feed you, and he will gladly give you a sharing.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Now that we're familiar with Otto, I can share the most exciting part of his past. He has connections with Ventresca, who turned out to be a next-generation monster hunter. (owned by @limboraptor)

Ventresca used to live in the Lower City of the Crème Republic, fighting to survive in an impoverished community. He always wanted to be a monster hunter, and at some point met Otto.

Despite Otto's initial annoyance at the young cookie, he eventually ends up mentoring him and taking him under his wing. Teaching all that he could. When Ventresca was older and Otter had retired, he passed down his harpoon gun. "Tin Cannon" or "Metal Canary", known for it's quick piercing shot.

Now as an old man, he doesn't hunt monsters on his own. Instead, he owns the Crab Claw and is an active buyer and manufacturer for all things monster-product related from food to tools. It's a good excuse to see his fry, too, since he buys what he uses from active monster hunters.