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I picked up a couple of RITs this year at the Halloween Club a few miles north
of Knotts Berry Farm in So. Cal.
that had the plastic attaching
their head to the trap broken off
from kids playing with them. For $3
each, it was a great deal. They
also had this latex leg that is
hollow and would work perfectly for
my new project.
 The first step was to disassemble the RITs and connect the
power bozes to each
other with hot glue and zip ties. You can also see the wiring has been hacked
into. Extensions wires had to be soldered in to get all the way out of the leg
and to the rat's motors located in their stomach area. I also hard wired in
lines going to the battery connection to each unit so I cold eliminate the need
for any batteries. The two boxes, now attached to each other, was then used as a
template to mark exactly on the bottom side of the leg the outline that would
need to be cut out. This allowed me a way to the inside of the leg to zip tie
the nose of each rat to different areas of the leg.
I attempted using many combinations
of wiring and transformers, but
because of how these particular two
were wired, possibly opposite
of each other, they wouldn't share
the same power source and have both
work. I was forced to use two
separate transformers and I decided
to install these inside the leg as
well. With much testing I found
that I would need two 4 1/2 volt
transformers that produced 1 amp
(1000 milliamps) each to power
these guys. Using an extension
cord, I plugged one transformer
into each side and zipped tied them
together onto the plug end and fit
the whole assembly into the hollow
area at the top of the leg. If they
ever vibrated loose from the power
cord I would be removing about 16
zip ties to plug them back in again, so one zip tie is cheap
insurance.
 Once the cut was made and the boxes fit, I drilled small holes in the edge
of the latex and into the boxes for attachment with zip ties. At first I drilled
holes in the cover plates to the boxes as well but later decided to just cut out
notches from the plate where each zip tie would be so the plates could be
removed. Just in case I ever needed to get back inside the guts. Again.
 Now to emulate skin being ripped up I lay on beads of hot glue around the
areas where each rat is attached.
 Next I outlined the ridges with
CreateX airbrush black paint with a
small paint brush for a curdling.
 Finally,
I added red to both the leg and around the mouths of the rats,
being careful to not fully cover
the black. As mentioned before it
gives it contrast and sort of an
icky, curdled look.
 Here's what it looks like complete. When these guys are
activated the
thrashing they give the severed leg is really frantic! Both rats are screaming
hysterically as well, so it sounds like a crazed feeding frenzy. The great thing
is that each year I set them out they won't be needing batteries!
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