Have to dissect a rat soon for an anatomy lab! ?

Question

im extremely disgusted by rats and reallllllllllllly dont want to do it...how can i mentally prepare myself for the nastiness to come

Answer 1

Choose a partner that will do all the gross stuff and you can just watch, or not, and record data.  That is what I did during dissections because I think it is gross.

Answer 2

the best thing you can do is not think of it.  you will probably be in partners, so choose a brave partner.

i dissected one last year, the teacher allowed kids who were to disgusted to just memorize and take a test. i would not suggest doing that because it is am amazing learning experience.

Answer 3

It's not that gross.

Here's what you do.

1) wash the rat (fur and all) in a soapy solution.

2) rinse well.

when you do this you are removing most of the chemicals from the fur (that's what stinks-- it's the strong chemicals,  not the smell of death)

Usually there is an opening (slit) in the abdomen of the rat.  This makes it easy to open.  rinse out the abdomen and let any "yucky stuff" drain down the sink.

Keep the rat in a zip lock bag in a refrigerator if you have to keep it overnight.

They are really cool inside.  Very similar to humans.

Answer 4

there's not a lot you can do, although I'd recommend looking up some pictures of rat dissections so that you'll get at least slightly used to seeing it before doing it