The Tiniest Baby

2692 Views 15 Replies 11 Participants Last post by icedmice, Feb 8, 2011

SarahY

Discussion Starter · Jan 10, 2011

This photo was taken when this little girl and her brother were 24 hours old. I couldn't believe the size difference, this is definitely the tiniest runt I've ever seen!

Sarah xxx

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SarahY

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 10, 2011

Don't worry Rhasputin, she's gone to Mouse Heaven now

Sarah xxx

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I wish runts like that could live a happy, and fulfilling life. I've only had one make it for a reasonable time, and it only lived to be 8 months old. A good lifetime for a tiny tiny runt, but not long compared to normal mousie lives.

It was so neat to have such a small adult mouse. It would be really neat to have mini meece.

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moustress

· #5 · Jan 10, 2011

Probably for the best, poor thing. It didn't look normal.

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Rhasputin

· #6 · Jan 10, 2011

I have a very interesting photo that might pertain to this subject.

This is a mouse with downs syndrome (right), basically, compared to a normal mouse (left)

Your pinky there, kind of looks like the downs mouse. o:

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Jack Garcia

· #7 · Jan 10, 2011

I've had them that small too.

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WillowDragon

· #8 · Jan 10, 2011

I've had only one that I can think of that was shockingly small at birth, it was basically a skeleton with skin on, I was amazed it was alive.

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SarahC

· #9 · Jan 10, 2011

I never knew mice could get downes.Someone said to me that they thought dumbo rats looked as if they had features linked to downes.Interesting pics Sarah and Rhasputin(where did you come across such a pic)

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SarahY

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 10, 2011

She does look like the Downs mouse with the concave profile. Very interesting indeed.

I very rarely get runts and this is the only mouse I've had that was this small. Otherwise she was a perfectly formed, very tiny, mouse. I don't know how she made 24 hours though with 9 normal sized brothers and sisters.

Sarah xxx

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laoshu

· #11 · Jan 10, 2011

she is very tiny.. I sometimes get ones that really stand out as being a runt.. I call them peanuts and they always get culled as they usualy suffer (the peanut name given to the runts is not a name I made up honist :shock: I thought everyone called them that )

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katytwinkle

· #12 · Jan 10, 2011

I also wasnt aware of mice being able to have downes syndrome. I've heard of it in cats but never in mice, and i agree too, extremely interesting xray pics!!

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Rhasputin

· #13 · Jan 10, 2011

I wish I could remember where I found that photo. It's a GREAT photo!
I think it was in a very very old medical reference book for rodents.

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jessierose2006

· #14 · Jan 10, 2011

we call them peanuts in rabbits too.

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minibears

· #15 · Feb 8, 2011

these are the ones that break our hearts, i had a mama have just 3 babies (i thought she was sterile and was therefore a companion for my lonely buck), 2 were normal females, the other was a buck with same size difference as ure little girl. i kept him purely for the fact that mama was a great nanny to the other girls and i felt she deserved as much. i believed he might 'disappear' so made it worth mamas while by letting her foster an additional 2 babies (3 days older, but from large litters so relatively size equivalent), bringing the total to 4 and a half babies. day by day as he stayed on i named him dozer because i believed he must be a mini bulldozer to get through the others and feed. his eyes opened at 3 weeks, yet that was the end of being a runt for him, he overtook more than half of the boys from the older litter 'cos he was a dozer when it came to the food bowl too. :lol:
however i would have done the same in this situation as u did, it was only that mama had such a pathetic little litter that dozer was kept.

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icedmice

· #16 · Feb 8, 2011

Is a mouse with Down Syndrome trisomy 21 like in humans or is it a similar condition in mice that mimics the human variety?

I find it a particularly fascinating topic because it is what sparked my interest in genetics, in particular non-inheritable genetic anomalies and inherited genetic abnormalities. My brother has Down Syndrome and I coped by learning all I could about it.

Naturally an animal is not a human and animals suffer a great deal more, if it is anything like trisomy 21 in humans it was likely going to die prematurely due to heart failure, failure of another major organ caused by developmental delay or being outcompeted by it's siblings. 40% of children with Down Syndrome are born with a hole in the heart, my brother is one, it's simple sugury for humans. Naturally a tiny mouse can't be offered such luxury.

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