#grasshopper mouse
You’re walking through a scrubby desert in the American Southwest and you hear a high, quavering, little, howl coming from the underbrush. Is it a small coyote, perhaps a chupacabra?
In fact, it is a much more ferocious and marvelous creature–a werewolf mouse (Onychomys torridus).
You may also know it as the “grasshopper mouse”, a more common but much less fearsome name.
The grasshopper mouse is unique among mice and rodents in general in that it has an exclusive taste for the flesh of the living. This tiny werewolf feasts upon insects, scorpions, centipedes, and even snakes and other mice. They are frequently known to sate their ravenous hunger on highly venomous prey that is significantly larger than they are.
For example, this is an Arizona bark scorpion. Their venom is extremely painful and even potent enough to kill humans in rare cases (though this is usually only a threat to the very young, the very old, and the immunocompromised). Their venom is easily able to kill mouse-sized rodents.
Well, except for the grasshopper mouse.
(Animal Death Warning for the video linked below).
The grasshopper mouse is not only capable of killing and eating Arizona bark scorpions, but through some fun biochemistry shenanigans they feel no pain at all from their sting. Essentially, compounds in the scorpion venom bond to a different receptor in grasshopper mice than they do in other animals and as a result the venom compounds block pain rather than causing pain.
To use an extremely clumsy and oversimplified analogy, it would be like if someone stabbed you with a syringe full of poison and your body turned it into morphine. This talent is of particular interest to scientists, who would like to harness the mouse’s biochemical shenanigans to help control pain in humans.
The icing on the extremely-weird-animal cake is that grasshopper mice defend their territory by howling, like tiny little werewolves. 10/10 fantastically strange little beasts.
“Trust me, I’ve got a lot of empty space in there still.”
This cat wasn’t too worried at first. But after slurping her up, Bridget just kept eating… and eating… and eating. And she’s rapidly starting to wonder just how far she can go – and whether she’s going to have any space left soon.
A fun little drawing of a messy internal, starring Bridget! I did this as a pose practice exercise. The chubby grasshopper mouse gets a little bit chubbier! It looks like her night has only just started.
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Bridget made a soft, happy sound as she gobbled up what remained of the mouse. She tilted her head back, slurping down the kicking legs and thrashing tail of the petite, curvy mouse.
They had been relaxing on the couch, cuddling and watching movies, when Bridget’s stomach had suddenly rumbled. Her companion had offered to go get some ice cream out of the fridge, but Bridget had decided to go for the snack that was already in her arms. Her former-friend-now-a-snack had been surprised, but by the time she realized what was happening she was already halfway down the much larger rodent’s gullet.
Just as Bridget slurped down the last of her meal’s tail, she heard a thump. She turned to see another mouse standing in the doorway that led back to the bedrooms, wearing pajamas, the water bottle that she had just dropped coming to a rest on the floor at her feet. She looked a lot like the mouse that Bridget had just downed, though a bit more slender of figure. She stared at Bridget’s thrashing stomach.
“Did… d-did you just… eat…?”
Bridget smiled softly at her. “Mhm. Your sister is packed away right here,” she said, giving her stomach a pat.
The mouse swallowed hard. “Th-then… um… I’m s-sure you’re f-f-full now, r-right?”
Bridget ran her tongue across her muzzle. “Oh sweetie… there’s no way just one of you would be enough for me,” she said, as she started to get up from the couch.
It was time for dessert.
——–
Bridget sighed, pressing her hands into the sides of her squirming gut. Empty containers of chocolate ice cream lay scattered around her, and her belly felt both bloated and a bit cold. Honestly, the ice cream had been a little much, and she probably hadn’t needed to eat all of it, but when she had opened the freezer and seen just how much her hostess had, she just couldn’t help herself.
She squeezed her belly, feeling its contents slosh beneath her fingers, as the two mice tried desperately to keep their heads above the sticky, chocolately mess. Bridget felt a rumble, starting in her belly and moving upward, and she tilted her head back and opened her mouth.
“BRAAAAP!”
The belch echoed through the apartment, now empty except for herself. The faint taste of chocolate still hung on her lips, and Bridget ran her tongue over her muzzle as she relaxed back into the couch. She was ready to relax and finish her movie while she let her meal digest.
It has been a fun evening, topped off with an especially delicious dessert.
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If you’re playing poker with your friends, make sure you’re really clear about what “all in” means.
He’s gonna be even more surprised when he realizes he’s included, too.
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Happy Valentines Day! Bridget decided to take the opportunity to get a little closer to her roommate. Guess she’s gonna miss her date, though.
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Bridget is starting to see some of the good points of this swimsuit.
A quick sequel because I wanted to try a new method! This time instead of using the close-and-fill tool, I used the balloon tool. As far as Clip Studio is concerned, these are all colored speech balloons!
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Bridget wearing that meme swimsuit. She doesn’t totally get it.
Another attempt at that lineless style, which I kind of like the look of, but I’m also not totally happy with it this time. I need to figure out a better workflow for doing this. I’m gonna keep experimenting.
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Bridget slurped the last bit of the feline’s tail into her mouth, causing her cheeks to bulge out. Then she tilted her head back and swallowed, packing the remainder of her prey into her tight gut.
Though the layers of fur and flesh, Bridget could make out the sound of cursing. The feline was understandably unhappy. She had tried to sneak up on Bridget, probably thinking she would be an easy – and filling – prey. She had definitely not been expecting to be taking a one-way trip down the mouse’s gullet instead. Now she would add to Bridget’s full figure – after an extended stay in her belly, of course.
Bridget felt a rumbling move up her throat, and she opened her mouth to release a belch. Then she smiled and gave her stomach a firm pat. “I love you cats; you just never can accept being eaten by a mouse, can you?”
Bridget heard an angry yowl, followed by another string of curses and some renewed squirming.
“Mmm… just like that. You’re quite the fighter! I bet you’ll still be wiggling weeks from now.” Bridget ran her tongue between her lips and teeth, tasting the feline’s lingering flavor. Then she turned her attention back to the day ahead of her. Breakfast might be taken care of, but she still had other errands to run.
And the angry feline had no choice but to come along for the ride.
I know I have commissions that I need to be working on, but for some reason I’ve struggled to create any art at all this week. So I decided to just kind of doodle something random today, and Bridget is what ended up happening. So here’s a mouse having her favorite snack!
Ask me questions on my Curious Cat! Feel free to ask questions to either me or one of my characters.
If you’re so inclined, I’d much appreciate it if you’d buy me a coffee!
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