# Is my boy a runt, or a dwarf?



## Skoll (Jun 24, 2014)

Hello everyone! I wanted to voice my concerns for my little guy, Alien. I named him that because when he was still a pinky, he had the hugest head on the tiniest body and looked like a freak of nature!  I honestly wasn't sure he was going to make it due to his mommy and all of his brothers passing away (mommy was a very badly injured rescue rat that unfortunately did not make it), but he and his sisters pulled through with my friend's nursing moms. Now he is very much alive, properly proportioned, and very friendly...but he's _tiny_. He was always itty bitty as a pinky, but his sisters were nearly 3 times his size. At 6 weeks old, he was just barely larger than a two week old baby that was just starting to open its eyes.

Do you guys think he's a dwarf, or just a runt? The pictures included are him at 6 weeks old, he turns 7 weeks tomorrow. Also, I don't know how well you can see in the pictures, but his hair was very sparse up until a day or two ago, and now he's starting to fill out more. That, and if you can tell from his size, he "developed" at the same rate as a normal boy but looks really odd being so much smaller and...manlier lol


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Oh gosh, what a cutie! I don't know much about genetics, but it seems like he just doesn't have the healthiest genes. He could be a dwarf, but I am no where near an expert. Hopefully a few members who know more will chime in. He's super cute though, I hope he ends up having good health throughout his life!


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

he might still go through a growth spurt. Monkey was super small compared to Goose and looked like a big headed mouse. She all of a sudden got really fat and then sprouted and is now bigger than her sister by a good bit.


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## Skoll (Jun 24, 2014)

My friend with the moms that raised him think that he may have been a bit over-groomed by all the moms in the cage. I'm crossing my fingers that he stays healthy, and he's looking stronger every day so that's a good sign! Is it possible he just had a bad first coat? Because the one that's growing in now is much thicker and healthy looking, lots of good shine and softness to it. His "uncles" love him to death, and let him get away with anything he wants (which includes sleeping on their heads lol). 

It's hard to say, but I'll be sure to tell you all if he suddenly gets a lot bigger. He's been growing pretty slowly, but steadily. Who knows, maybe he'll sprout up out of nowhere and be the biggest rat out of all of them? Hopefully there's someone here that can lend some insight on runts, dwarves, or both!


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Hes a little rex rat (you can see his curly whiskers), which explains the sparse fur, they tend to loose a lot of there fur between about 5-6 weeks and then start to get a decent coat back.

With your description of his size from birth he is probably a runt, and loosing his mum so early will have stunted his growth further. Hopefully now he's well on solid foods he will catch up a bit, though he may never be the biggest boy.

There is a small chance that theres something causing him to be smaller, be it a dwarf gene or a health issue, but generally dwarfs are very even sized, he just looks behind developementally, maybe by a couple weeks, though he's finishing his first moult so not doing badly.

Give him lots of love and high protien food for the next few weeks and see how he does


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## MimiSkye (Feb 3, 2014)

Since he was the only one in the litter that is so small, I doubt hes a dwarf. It is hard to find true dwarf rats, but without knowing who the father is it is hard to tell. The dwarf gene is recessive so both parents must either be dwarfs or at least a dwarf carrier for there to be any chance of dwarf.
dwarf x dwarf = 100% dwarf babies
dwarf x standard = 100% standard babies carrying dwarf
dwarf x standard carrying dwarf = 50% dwarf/50% standard carrying dwarf
standard carrying dwarf x standard carrying dwarf = 25% dwarf/75% standard may or may not be carrying dwarf
The odds are pretty unlikely, but you never know.


Many people often mistake smaller standards for dwarfs. Myself being one of them. I adopted a 'dwarf rat' as my first rat ever, then quickly adopted her a standard sized sister. Penelope (the 'dwarf') grew to be about 3/4 the size of Olive (the standard). About 6 months later, I found a dwarf breeder and adopted a TRUE dwarf (Lulu). Now they are all fully grown and I realize there is NO WAY Penelope is a dwarf. Dwarfs are EXTREMELY small. Only a little bigger than a mouse. Since your boy is so young, he is probably just a runt and will fill out later in life.
To me, the easiest way to tell wether he is a dwarf is by personality. They have a very distinctive personality. They are very curious and outgoing. I know rats are all social, but dwarfs are on a whole nother level. Lulu is fearless. She down;t realize how small she is. She is extremely easy to introduce to others....when I introdiced her to Olive and Penelope, she didn't even care that they were pushing her around. She forced her way into the hammock whether they liked it or not. When I recently introduced my new boy to all 3, Lulu was the only one without hesitation to accept him. From what I have read, this seems to be how most dwarfs are.

Heres a picture of my girls, Olive (standard) is the berkshire, Penelope (who I thought was a dwarf) is the hooded and Lulu (true dwarf) is the blue velveteen:


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## Skoll (Jun 24, 2014)

Thank you all for the replies! His whiskers aren't actually very curly, and he now has a very thick and healthy standard (I think) coat. After listening to you guys, I'm pretty certain he's not a dwarf. I do understand the genetics of everything, I was just thinking that he may have been a lucky number. He's been on solids for a while now, and was never actually without a mother because as soon as his mom didn't make it I moved him to my friend's nursing mother cage. He had more than enough milk after his mom passed away, thankfully. If you saw him up close, he looks like a very healthy and normal rat, just smaller. That's what lead me to think dwarf.

As of now, he looks to be about Lulu's size (if not smaller), and I'm watching him carefully to see how he grows. When I put him in the adult cage, he just walked right up to them and stepped all over them lol "Hi, who are you guys? I'm going to sit on your heads, ok? Ok." He loves EVERYTHING. People, cats, and he's head over heels for any other rat. He's an amazing little dude!


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Even slightly curled whiskers means somethings going on with his coat, he might not be a standard rex but could be something like satin, velveteen or recessive rex who isnt a particularly good one (not in a derogatory sense but that he doesn meet standard). I tried to count once, there were at least 11 different genes that affected rats coats and whiskers, including something called the wavy gene which just made there coat slightly wavy. From memeory i dont think that list even had Harley on there so there are probably more. Still he could just have had droopy whiskers at the time of the photo. Its always harder to tell via pictures


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## Adalii (Aug 18, 2012)

I don't think he's a dwarf. I think he is a runt, as he looks behind developmentally. He looks like the two girls I rescued about two years ago, both very runty and their fur looked like this. Make sure you watch him closely! Their fur never became 'normal' but they did look like rexes as babies.


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## Skoll (Jun 24, 2014)

I'll have to get a closer look at his whiskers, but his fur is just a little bit softer and shinier than a normal rat. He looks to me perfectly healthy, just smaller than everyone else. His fur is actually rather stunning now, he's by far my softest rat. I can't quite tell what color he is yet either, because some days he looks black and others he looks agouti. He's an odd little rat, I wish I had taken pictures of him when he was a pinky.

Here's some more recent pictures; I was just taking them for fun so they may not be the most helpful.


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## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

Love the pics


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