Dwarf baby born from normal sized parents

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chechinchillas

chechinchillas

hmmmmmmm
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
546
Location
CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO
These are pictures of a beige, dwarf baby born from normal sized parents; Dad, standard grey (Shoots lines), Mom, pink white (Holden lines). Holden did breed dwarves, but Mom's pedigree does not show any dwarf carriers in her history. He is about 5 weeks old now. His sister, a pink white, looks normal too. He has a completely different walk/run because his little legs are so short. To me he almost has a newborn look to his head still, very short, blunt face/nose. So far he is doing very well and seems perfectly healthy.
 

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Adorable Cheryl!!! You keeping him? I have wanted a dwarf ever since I got into chins!
 
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AWWWWW cute little bugger!!!! Was he a lot smaller than his sister at birth??? Were you able to tell right away???
 
They are both adorable. He definitely looks like he has those dwarf characteristics to me!
 
He was a little smaller at birth and since females have a double uterus, I thought he may have been born a little early. As time went on, he did not lose that baby shape and look to his face. I noticed his walk/run was completely different, how short his legs were and small his ears. I am going to video him after I clean cages this week.
 
For it to be due to a genetic pair, both parents would need to carry it, including the Shoots male. It can also just be a flaw that happens, like a congenital defect instead of a genetic match up, if that makes sense. It's not coming out right today!

Keep him for a while, dwarves tend to have great personalities!
 
I think he is stinking adorable. I've always wanted a dwarf myself.
Thought a het ebony female I had born here was, but she doesn't seem to be now that she is almost 8 weeks old and growing. Still smaller than most kits I have born here, but no other kits in her litter to compare her to.

You should keep him. Hes friggin cute!
 
I think I am going to keep him. I just wonder if I should wait to wean him since he is smaller. I usually wean same sex groups of 4 or more in a large cage together so they don't miss mom as much since they have new playmates.
 
Darling! I'm curious if the dwarfism in Chins is usually an autosomal recessive or dominant trait? If recessive, it could certainly "hide" in a line for a long time before popping up again. If dominant, then in this case it most likely is due to a spontaneous mutation (which is actually quite common in regards to dwarfism).

Either way he is just precious. I'm quickly falling in love with the dwarfie ones. Are they different to care for--such as, do they need lower ledges, or are they more likely to get malo?
 
ReesesTurtles said:
Are they different to care for--such as, do they need lower ledges, or are they more likely to get malo?
Click to expand...

Just like in humans, each case of dwarfism is different. One of my boys displayed many characteristics of dwarfism when he was younger. He came from a well established line with no previous history of producing dwarfs. By one-year-old he had grown out of many of the traits. He still has shorter arms, and an abnormal skeletal structure in his shoulder-blades. I don't know if he is a true dwarf, or just has skeletal defects in that part of his body. He is a healthy pet, so I couldn't care less about the label.

Regardless I did a lot of research early on, depending on the severity of the dwarfism they may end up having special needs. In my Bailey's case nothing has ever slowed him down. I did read that in extreme cases the body stops growing, and the organs don't, which leads to premature death. Some chins are smaller, while others are full size with dwarf features. Again, each case is different.

Personally I think that all chins are cute (dwarf or not). I think it is important to understand this gene in order to be aware of it, but I don't think we should encourage breeding when in some cases these traits can cause handicaps and premature death.


The chin in this thread is pretty stinkin' cute. Hope he does well for you!
 
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