I have to say, I am so in love with Columbus!!  They are all so cute and pretty.
Loved that pic of mamma!

He's a funny guy.   He's slightly more skittish then the others (Which means.. well, pretty much nothing since they're all as non-skittish as you can get) since I usually leave him in with mom while I take the sibs out so he can get some alone time (and hopefully some extra foods.).  It'll be interesting to see if he ever gets large, or if he stays small.

Quinn's being such a good momma, but you can tell she's ready to be done with it!   

strangeduck-  The beige girl is staying (Same with Columbus) so I'll be able to see just how big and squishy she gets!   I'm sure eventually she'll look like a 'normal' girl, but she's just so big now!

He is getting larger, just not at the same rate as the others.  The others are HUGE and growing fast.  He used to be super thin- so thin you could see his ribs when he breathed in.  Now, when you rub a finger over them (Since he has fur so you can't see them) you can feel he's put some fat on over them.  For him, I think he's not as 'quick witted' as the others, as he seems to have trouble finding the nipples.  The other bubs don't bully him, but they don't really scoot over and make room, either.  I've thought about force-feeding him, but I really don't want to do something like that to such a little guy.  (and he's never weak, either.)  Time will tell if he's going to be a healthy guy or not.  I know megacolon is a possibility, but in my understanding, that resulted in the distended belly look.  He doesn't have a distended belly, but he's also not eating very much solids compared to the others.  So, we'll see. I'm hoping he just ends up kind of shrimpy and doesn't have poor health overall, but he's staying here either way so I know he'll be taken care of.

Oo, I do see the resemblance.  I'll have to read through the thread and maybe give my vet a call and see if she's had any cases of it.  Columbus' head isn't nearly as dome-shaped, (and he is a dumbo, so that may factor in.) but it may be a possibility.

My vet isn't horribly experienced with rats, so I'm not sure if she'd know much about it without a case.  I'll have to do a bunch of research, too.

Well, I'm pretty worried/sad about this now.  But I guess it's always been a part of my thinking he may not live long, being the runt and all.

When I saw Columbus's picture, my first thought was megacolon. MC babies don't start getting the distended bellies until they start eating solids. But you do see the failure to grow fairly soon because their little digestive systems just don't take up the nutrients necessary for growth. How's his muscle tone? MC babies also are pretty floppy and lack muscle tone. I sure hope he's not an MC baby, but you'll be wise to keep an eye out for it.

Here's a pretty thorough article with links to pictures and more reference articles:

http://ratguide.com/health/digestive/megacolon.php

Well I'm the one who had wee Cherub with hydrocephalus (fluid in the brain basically) but I never saw her when she was very young and still on her mum, so I'm not sure what sort of early development was (though obviously she can't have done tooo badly or she wouldn't have made it to weaning and being sold to a pet store!!!)

He does have a similar look to her, but yeah the dumbo ears don't help (she could pull off the dumbo look quite well at times, and we don't HAVE dumbo in NZ! lol) so I'm not sure really if he is the same or not, I guess as he grows more it'll become more obvious if he is or not.


Cherub didn't live long. Most don't live long. I know of one hydro boy personally who at last time i saw him was over a year old and still going, though he was obviously mentally challenged... heh. And there's also PE on fancy rats who an almost normal lifetime with it as well. No one knows why they lived, except the obvious guess is that it wasn't as severe in them and they were able to carry on, though both were sorta 'handicapped' and needed help with some things sometimes.

Cherub needed help a lot at times, other times she was fine zipping about by herself. The MAIN thing I noticed with her, and also with 'Lucky' the boy i know in NZ here, was the total ignorance of heights and ledges. In other words, walking along (or buzzing along at top speed...) right over the edge of anything. The bed, levels, a table, whatever. Bruuuuuumm brooom broomm... woops! *flop*. heh. Poor wee mite, the number of flying leaps I took to catch her like a baseball in one hand as she buzzed off the far end of the table (that I swear she was right beside me so I could catch her easily)

That and the lack of co-ordination. She could buzz about easily, but working out how to both stand on your back legs and wash your face without falling over at the same time was difficult some days. And holding something to eat wasn't easy those days either, so she often got hand fed from a syringe (oh she could eat from a dish fiiine, but she'd also smoosh it everywhere and cake her belly in babyfood.... mmmmm. yummy. 0_o )

Now like I said, I don't know what her early development was like. She was obviously a 'runt', being skinny and smaller, but I don't get the impression that her 'breeder' would have given her any extra care or attention so I image she was perfectly able to feed from her mum and start to eat solids before I came along. I don't know how 'different' she was, mentally, early on, or if her breeder noticed anything more than being a runt (I wonder if they noticed even that. *sigh*)

Looking at him he doesn't look as bad as Cherub, in the head bulge thing. So hopefully he'll either NOT be a hydro bub, or if he is he'll be mild enough like PE & Lucky to live a good life still anyway.





Be warned, if he's a hydro bub, those special ones weedle their way right into your heart and life like you can never imagine. I still cry if I look at Cherubs photos, her tiny life still leaves an amazingly big hole.

The head does look hydro, but he has managed thus far. There are different levels of severity, so Columbus may live a while longer or simply not have it at all.

 I have seen hydro in the newborn stage through the first couple of weeks and that was heartbreaking for me. That baby suffered and was unable to properly nurse after a fashion. I finally took him from the breeder and took him to the university to have him humanely euthed and then a full necropsy done. He would not have lived much longer and was basically slowly starving. Poor mite ddnt even have his eyes opened when all of his siblings already did.

I wish Columbus the best of luck He sure is a cute thing.

  and    for Columbus!

The story of sweet Cherub brought me to tears    What a sweet    she was. 

I have high hopes for Columbus. He may just need some extra care and who knows, he may have a perfectly almost normal life Im assuming he will be staying with you then? Thats good, he will get good care and help as needed. Babies are so very precious, and he is adorable.

Glad to hear he is nibbling on lab blocks!!