Source for tiny animals?

Does anyone have an inexpensive source for little critters, about 1" to 3" (2.5-7.5 cm) tall?
I want to use some for ornaments.

New or used, plastic, glass, ceramic, whatever is fine, but I prefer more realistic, not cartoony, and not licensed characters.

I’m particularly looking for vintage-looking deer, circus animals, and pets.

Ebay and etsy are asking surprisingly high prices for junky used animals.

Thanks for any leads!

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I don’t have any source ideas for you. What I DO have is a set of a dozen plastic dogs that I’d be happy to send your way.


They are the right height.

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Aw, that is so nice of you!
I don’t need so many, but I like the wolfy looking white one, and the fat tailed orange one with the black on its back.

Is there something you need that I might be able to send you?

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Don’t really need anything, but if you have any interesting beverage cans and/or tins that I can cut up, I’d use them. (I recycle the scraps.) Might have some other toy animals around; I’ll look.

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The use it or lose it thread could be helpful :wink:

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Schleich makes wonderful plastic animals and they have a line of teeny tiny, rubbery animals that are generally less than $1. I have a sasquatch that is about 1" tall and an axolotl that is about 1" long - so they are not scaled with each other!

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@steiconi, I went through my “whimsies” and “miniatures” shoe boxes and found a few more animals in your stated size range (I have a few smaller cows, pigs, deer, and horses that are not in the picture.)


I included the two dogs you’d already claimed, just so you can see how the size compares. Not sure if the deer is too cartoon-ish.

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Oh, the deer is my favorite! And I like the horses.
I actually already have a javalina.

I gave away a bunch of tea tins weeks ago, but maybe they would have been too heavy? I’ll see if there are more.

Got a use for a few Brie boxes? Tiny clear plastic containers? 30 yards of fabric? Small cloches?

Today I’m 3D printing circus silhouettes for a dome or two.

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Definitely ask in the Use It or Lose It thread! I don’t need any of those things; no need to reciprocate. As I understand it, I’m sending the deer, two horses, and two dogs. Should be able to ship on Monday; will PM a tracking number.

Thank you, that should slake my tiny animal needs for now!

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I have these two vintage metal western toys. The larger one is about 2.5" tall x 3" long, the other one is 2.25" tall, and 2.5" long. I know I have some little ceramic critters somewhere, but I haven’t seen them since we moved, which means they got Packed with a capital P. But I can look for them.

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thank you so much for the offer! but I think I have enough animals, with @endymion 's gifts.

You guys are so generous, thank you! Bonus; I feel like I NEED to actually produce results with the donations, which will encourage me to make stuff. Thank you again!

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Those are very nostalgic!

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I can never resist thrift store grab bags of small creatures. They came in a bag that was mostly (somehow unbroken) small porcelain horses. Like so many such things, I find them charming, but unnecessary. Lol

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I can never resist so many things, but I’m desperately trying to cut back on my habit of semi-random acquisitions.

Those metal horses are so adorable! But I must be strong and resist!

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