Christa’s (aka reepeecheep) profile was brought to our attention by Norway_girl, who stumbled on it and was intrigued when reading this line:
“I am a librarian and collect everything about mice and rats. My collection is the biggest in the world and so I am holder of a Guinness Book Record – I got more than 47000 items.”
Wow… that seemed interesting! Our curiosity was piqued, and we immediately sent Christa a few questions about her unusual collection. She was super nice and let us know more about her unusual hobby and how things escalated to an impressive world record. Read on!
- What prompted you to start collecting mice and rat-themed items?
My first husband died and I married again in 1991. My second husband is a geologist and had been collecting postcards about mining and mineral resources (he now has about 35000 and puts them online for the public). So I often went with him to fairs or postcard dealers to get cards for his collection. But I felt bored there, and I asked him what he would think about me collecting something. And he agreed. He suggested to collect mice and rats – that was the biggest fault he ever did in his life!!!
As a librarian I am a very systematic person, and when I act, I do it with all my heart. After two or three years, I went all in, collecting everything connected to my favorite animals. And as you know rodents are very fertile, so soon I ended up with hundreds and then thousands of items. We only had a small flat, but as space was getting tight we rented the apartment next door also. When we retired, we moved into a three storied house! Now every room is filled with mice and rats – even the basement, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the toilets.
I am very lucky to have a husband who respects me and my spleen. When he starts to moan I always remind him that it was his idea!!! But on the other hand he is proud of me and it was he who had the idea to apply at the Guinness Book people.
- Why rodents? Are mice or rats your favorite animal? Do you also have them as pets?
I had gerbils and rats as pets for years. These are very intelligent and cute animals. You can teach them tricks, and they are very cuddly. And I feel sorry for animals and humans, too, who are pursued. As a teenage I had some cute mice puppets which I liked very much. So at Christmas or for my birthday people gave me more mice figures and I had a little showcase where I put them.
- How many items do you have in total? And how many of these are postcards?
Back in 2004 when the Guinness record was accepted, I had 27623 items. In 2014, I beat my own record with 47398 items. Now five years later I got more than 50000.
Some portions: 4577 books, 3568 modern graphics, 11928 figurines, 27746 postcards (6265 vintage, 19408 modern, 1073 big ones) and 3585 greetings cards
- Tell us about your postcards featuring these little animals. Do you receive and swap a lot of them through Postcrossing?
I am very happy to be part oft he Postcrossing family and ask people to send me rodent cards if possible. Until today I got 2266 cards from all over the world, and among them were 794 mice and rats!!! So this is more than one third! Some of them are repeated but I don’t mind as I know that it is not easy to find mice and rat cards. :)
Thank you Christa, that was wonderful! 🐭 By the way, any guesses as to where Christa got her username, “reepeecheep”?
57 comments so far
Awesome I guess I'm still a "bit" behind with my foxes collection! :D
Wow, impressive ‼️
How smart to let your hubby suggest, so that he can't complain afterwards;-) Love that story ! But: who does the dusting ??
Great story!
OMG!!!
Truly impressive!
I'm not volunteering to assist if she plans a house move!
Dustybee
Bravo! Although the theme of mice and especially rats is not very pleasant to me. But I always admire keen people.
I had the pleasure of sending Christa a card earlier this year! :D I remember I wrote about how I'm having a rodent problem in my garage and she told me to be as humane as possible in getting them out. :D
Woow! I love it..
At least she curates it well. Otherwise the idea of owning so much freaks me out! I do like her Chronicles of Narnia reference with her username, since in Voyage of the Dawn Treader Reepicheep is an awesome character.
WOW and my cousins use to complain about their mom's mice collection and she only had about 500 mice, and most were miniatures in a display cabinet.
I remember how much fun I had picking out a mouse themed postcard to send to Christa. It's wonderful to finally see the collection. What a splendid display! Oh, and I am presently babysitting my daughter's pet mice. They are funny and adorable creatures. So, I get the fascination. 🐁
Das ist fantastisch! Это просто фантастика, Крис! Браво!!!
What a "mice" story.
How delightful!!!
Thank you, Christa, and Postcrossing!
Roxanne.
What a nice read! Maybe you can do more featured profiles?
And Reepicheep is the mouse from Narnia :)
Nice
I saw a lot 'food', hahahah!
I love and collect mice and rats stuff, too!
How fascinating. It is such fun looking for new little characters to add to the collection!
I see the Maus from Die Sendung mit der Maus in her collection! (I love that). :-)
What an awesome collection!! 🐭🐁
I've sent a PC to her! How fun to see someone I've sent mail to as a featured member :)
Really awesome collection, reepacheep! Such a cool collection of themed stuff! Keep it up! Also, thank you Postcrossing, for another awesome spotlight!!!
Reepicheep is the valiant rodent in the Narnia bools by C S Lewis!
"And as you know rodents are very fertile..." this line made me laugh out loud! Great interview!
And as you know rodents are very fertile..
Oh how I love "meeting" fellow Postcrossers. What an amazing collection, and it sounds like every item is cataloged and adored. Good to see my favorite "Mickey Mouse" in there, too. Thanks for sharing your joy with us.
...it is not a house..it is a museum.....unique....best wishes....
Beautiful,collection
Great
I am happy to think that I am part of this beautiful story because I have already sent her a mouse card.
Fantastic collection and a great deal of time and patience to keep it all organized!
Reepeecheep is the name of the talking mouse in Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis
I was given Reepeecheep's address a while ago and was happy to find a card with rats on it :) Nice to think that it is now part of world record collection!
Mice sometimes take up residence in my house, and I live trap them and release them (a few kilometres from my place)
I also had the opportunity to send a card for her collection. I didn't have a rodent card but I did have a cat card which I embellished with rat pictures and phrases from a National Geographic issue on rats. She very graciously favorited it.
Nice!
Nice story keep up your collection!
wonderful collection! a friend of mine has a house full of turtles!
I also have sent Christine a card with a rat peeking out of a block of cheese. I was amazed how many rats and mice she has!
I also received a oostcard from her.
I have a question - when you see something related to rats and mice’s, how do you know you do not have it yet? Can you possible remember over 45000 items? If so you are amazing!
ratastic!!
I was lucky enough to get Christa's name and enjoyed learning about her love for mice and rats. It was fun to get to see photos of her collection.
Interesting article. My brother, a teacher at the University, is also obsessed with rats and he knows everything about them. He even has his own website about these creatures. We should introduce him to Christa)))
Reepicheep, the most valiant of the Talking Beasts of Narnia and Chief Mouse!
There is a town called Myshkin (literally Mouse-town) in Jaroslavskaya oblast in Russia. They also have an impressive collection of mice-related items: figurines, books, pictures etc. But I believe this Christa's collection is sooooo much bigger.
What a dedication, wonderful!
Great to see the collection: i really wondered about it, as i too sent a card for her collection ;)
How amazing it is.
JoeMcBee and helendq, omg you all are right! I was wondering where I had heard that name before!!! :D
I must admit that my first thought, like another person who commented, was “How do they manage all the dusting?”! Amazing 💁🏻♀️
Almost 2 years ago I met Christa here. I was fascinated by her mice collection :) She gave me an idea to become a part of Guinness records too. Now I have more than 5000 dolphins and waiting for an answer from Guinness. So I'm very happy to see this post about her and I'm very thankful for her advices while preaparing for the Guinness record :)
cute little mice love your collection
so nice!
I’m happy to know there’s someone that loves mice and rats this much. Have you heard about animal years in Chinese calendar? 12 different animal turn around, for example I was born in the year of monkey. And next year 2020 is the year of mouse. So you see many mouse and rat related goods. We exchange New Years cards so you see many mouse cards in different designs are already sold in shops everywhere, and many rubber stamps and cute figurines etc.My mother was born in the year of mouse and collecting some items and I still keep them. Here in Japan there’re lots of NEW mouse items for you to see. White mouse is considered as a lucky animal that brings good fortune and makes you rich. When someone works hard, we call him Shiro-nezumi
that means a white mouse 🐁 that brings wealth. Interesting? I will send you some New Years cards if you let me know you address.
Christa, it is so great thing you have had courage and discipline to make such an outstanding collection ! What you do is so cute and charming ! Thank you and God bless you ! Anna
Do you like my Diddle Carts? YOU CAN GET IT
Just my luck, as I have no rat PC's or mouse ones? Sorry. When I look at that all I see is a lot of dusting, although you have many in cases.$$$
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