Peanut or runt? Help please
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Mariam+Theo
Well-Known Member
It does look like a peanut 
Maybe it will make it, just keep it warm and fed. It is super cute!
http://hollyshollands.weebly.com/blog/what-is-a-peanuthttps://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/can-a-peanut-be-saved.67248/
Maybe it will make it, just keep it warm and fed. It is super cute!http://hollyshollands.weebly.com/blog/what-is-a-peanuthttps://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/can-a-peanut-be-saved.67248/
Thank you so much. He is now 4 weeks old. He is still 2/3 smaller than others but his belly was allways full and he is a fighter. I didnt feed him and he managed to survive alone. I just didnt find any info about peanuts that survived, so I wasnt sure anymore.
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With him being alive at 4 weeks, it's highly unlikely that he is a peanut. Peanuts don't typically survive past two weeks. Plus his head doesn't have the look of a peanut. So either a runt that may have genetic health issues affecting it's ability to thrive, or a possible an acquired health issue affect it's growth and ability to thrive.
More info I get, more I am confused. When I show his early pictures all say that he is a peanut. When I say he survived, he is not a peanut anymore. His ears are small, he is growing but he is allways 2/3 smaller than his litter mates, his eyes are smaller, his lego are smaller and his rear is big. Maybe he is one in a million. Is there a way to verify if he has two dwarf genes? If he survives, I would like to know that. And I am really thankfull for all your comments and advices.
Almost everyone experienced with peanuts and the double dwarf gene will say there is no way a peanut can survive past the first week or two because of genetic problems inherent with the deformity. But then there are people that swear they have peanuts that have survived several weeks. So who knows, maybe you do have a peanut there and it's just one of those rare few that survive a little longer than the others.
I haven't ever had the experience with a peanut, but I have had a dwarf baby that was a runt, and at 8 weeks she was more than half the size of her siblings, thin, with a pot belly, but behaved normally. When I got her I changed her diet and after that she started gaining weight, lost the pot belly, and eventually caught up to the right size for her breed. Ended up being even a little bigger than normal for her breed, and at 8 is still very healthy. With her I figured it was either a nutritional deficit from poor quality feed or an intestinal parasite issue causing the smaller size, wasting of the back and hindquarters, and pot belly appearance; and that one of these was the cause of her being underweight and so much smaller than her siblings. All I could ever figure is that the high grass hay diet that I started her on, then gradually introducing a high quality feed into her diet, helped correct whatever was wrong and causing the failure to thrive.
I've also had a friend that had a similar problem with a runt that was much smaller than his siblings, and just not growing and thriving like them. She was feeding a good diet already, so she tried addressing a possible intestinal parasite issue as the cause of the failure to thrive, and in the next several weeks following treatment, the baby started gaining weight better and eventually caught up in size to his siblings. I know of one other person that had a runt with failure to thrive who treated for possible parasites as the cause using fenbendazole, and had the same results. The baby got better and caught up in size.
So I'm just sharing these other stories in case you actually have a runt with a so called 'failure to thrive', and if you are wondering if there may be a treatable cause for your rabbits smaller size, that there actually might be possible solutions to the problem. I can't say what exactly for your baby, but just that there could be a treatment.
I haven't ever had the experience with a peanut, but I have had a dwarf baby that was a runt, and at 8 weeks she was more than half the size of her siblings, thin, with a pot belly, but behaved normally. When I got her I changed her diet and after that she started gaining weight, lost the pot belly, and eventually caught up to the right size for her breed. Ended up being even a little bigger than normal for her breed, and at 8 is still very healthy. With her I figured it was either a nutritional deficit from poor quality feed or an intestinal parasite issue causing the smaller size, wasting of the back and hindquarters, and pot belly appearance; and that one of these was the cause of her being underweight and so much smaller than her siblings. All I could ever figure is that the high grass hay diet that I started her on, then gradually introducing a high quality feed into her diet, helped correct whatever was wrong and causing the failure to thrive.
I've also had a friend that had a similar problem with a runt that was much smaller than his siblings, and just not growing and thriving like them. She was feeding a good diet already, so she tried addressing a possible intestinal parasite issue as the cause of the failure to thrive, and in the next several weeks following treatment, the baby started gaining weight better and eventually caught up in size to his siblings. I know of one other person that had a runt with failure to thrive who treated for possible parasites as the cause using fenbendazole, and had the same results. The baby got better and caught up in size.
So I'm just sharing these other stories in case you actually have a runt with a so called 'failure to thrive', and if you are wondering if there may be a treatable cause for your rabbits smaller size, that there actually might be possible solutions to the problem. I can't say what exactly for your baby, but just that there could be a treatment.
Happy Hollands
Well-Known Member
Peanuts can only be produced if both rabbits are true dwarfs. What is the weight (and breed) of your adult rabbits?
The main characteristics of a peanut are it's bulging eyes, miniscule ears, and crossed back legs. Peanuts never survive past day 11. Your baby rabbit is indeed a runt, it could possibly have a serious health issue so I would have it checked out by a vet! Please keep this baby with its mom until it is at least 10 weeks old to ensure it can get the nutrients it needs before being weaned.
The main characteristics of a peanut are it's bulging eyes, miniscule ears, and crossed back legs. Peanuts never survive past day 11. Your baby rabbit is indeed a runt, it could possibly have a serious health issue so I would have it checked out by a vet! Please keep this baby with its mom until it is at least 10 weeks old to ensure it can get the nutrients it needs before being weaned.
Both parents are lionheads (1.5kg). We have 4 kits. Two are normal, one is giant and one is this small one. He drinks a lot of milk even when others are not and he will stay with us. He is our little baby. His urin is clear, he eats hay and drinks water. From the first day I was chekking him and his belly was allways full.
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SableSteel
Well-Known Member
It's not a peanut. Even in the younger pictures it doesn't look like a peanut. The best characteristic to look for a peanut are the tiny, extremely pointed ears, not size. The rabbit has normal looking ears in all the pictures. Look at that fur pattern as well; that very thin wispy fur is very common in runts that aren't getting enough nutrition.
Here's a picture of a peanut I produced a couple years ago, alongside its normal littermate. These were britannia petites, but I've bred a few other dwarf breeds as well (Holland Lops, Netherland Dwarfs, included). I have heard of peanuts living up to a couple weeks (or in one or two instances, even a couple months), but the VAST, VAST majority of them die within a couple weeks, and the very few that do survive that long have visibly different ears and don't live much past that.
And here's a picture of an older peanut. You can see the tiny, pointed ears and round skull here. Not my picture
And lastly, here a better picture of a peanut alongside its normal littermates. Again, not my picture.
Here's a picture of a peanut I produced a couple years ago, alongside its normal littermate. These were britannia petites, but I've bred a few other dwarf breeds as well (Holland Lops, Netherland Dwarfs, included). I have heard of peanuts living up to a couple weeks (or in one or two instances, even a couple months), but the VAST, VAST majority of them die within a couple weeks, and the very few that do survive that long have visibly different ears and don't live much past that.
And here's a picture of an older peanut. You can see the tiny, pointed ears and round skull here. Not my picture
And lastly, here a better picture of a peanut alongside its normal littermates. Again, not my picture.
