Onwards, Upwards… and Slightly to the Left: The Day Instagram Deleted My 8 Years of Mice

Before we dive in — if you want to keep up with my latest creations (and help me rebuild after this whole mess), my new Instagram is @ohstuffinell_taxidermyEvery follow right now means the world.

Last Sunday, I woke up, made my tea, and went to check Instagram… only to find my account of eight years had vanished. I mean, what the actual F**k? Boom — here, go eat that S**t sandwich for breakfast. Eight years of work, gone in a puff of digital smoke.

At first, I felt like such a wally for crying over a social media account — and when I say crying, I mean sobbing. The kind of ugly, snotty tears usually reserved for when your favourite TV character dies. Honestly, it was not my finest hour. But this wasn’t just cat memes and brunch photos — it was eight years of hard work, customers, connections, and a huge part of my business as a taxidermy artist. So yes… I think the tears were justified.

And honestly, I think it’s pretty unfair that I didn’t get any warnings or anything. They literally just took it all away. If the tiny d**ks were so offensive, why didn’t they just let me know and I would’ve stopped posting them. I’m sure it was those that did it. And you know what really gets me? I don’t want to get into how many times I see girls half-naked talking about porn and their OnlyFans — but that’s fine apparently. Tiny little plastic? Oh no, that’s a big fat no-no.

So there I was, spending hours trawling through YouTube videos on how to fill in appeal forms and magically convince Instagram to change their minds. Spoiler alert: none of them worked.

Anyway, I don’t want to be bitter…

I’m beyond grateful to every single one of my old followers who’s helping me spread the word about my new account. You have no idea how much it means to me — and honestly, I can’t believe the huge impact it’s had already. The shares, the tags, the lovely messages… it’s like having a little rescue team rallying behind me.

Of course, these things never happen in a vacuum. At the time, I was also moving house, the kids were on summer holidays, and my stress levels were already somewhere between “meltdown” and “full cheese fondue.”

Anywhoooo… here’s my online rant over. I don’t want to be known as a moany old b**ch, so onwards and upwards — let’s get creative.

I’m talking:

• Behind-the-scenes of my anthropomorphic taxidermy mice

• The chaos and creativity of my workshop

• The oddities, miniature props, and tiny scandalous accessories that make my work so fun

If Instagram is my shop window, this blog is going to be the whole workshop — the stories, the mess, the victories, the mice in tiny ball gags… all of it. I want to take you behind the scenes, introduce you to my little characters, and share the weird and wonderful world I get to create in.

So here’s to new beginnings, fresh mice, and a little more personality in every post.

If you’ve been with me since the old account, thank you for sticking with me. If you’re new, welcome to the madness. Leave me a comment to say hello — I’d love to know who’s reading this on day one of my fresh start.

And if you want to follow my new Instagram page and help me rebuild, you’ll find me at @ohstuffinell_taxidermy — every follow, like, and share makes a huge difference right now.