Uploaded June 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Finally the inevitable happens and little Zorro goes from active and full of life to unresponsive within a span of a few hours. Peanuts (the smallest of mousy runts) only very rarely ever live to adult hood, most die just after weaning. Zorro lived 18 days.
I am so glad I got him, I almost did not. I knew he was unlikely to live, plus I thought he would not be good for filming. But I could not leave him behind to become snake food. It was the best decision I could have made. He became the star of this series, he taught me and a lot of other people all about peanuts, he added interest to the series.
It was so sad seeing him fade away, but in his five days with me, he had been much loved, not just by me but also by his mousy foster parents, Hugo and Nora, who seemed to dote on him, giving him more attention than his siblings. My guess is that with peanuts there is a genetic flaw, making them weak, giving them a pinched, thin appearance, stopping their growth and giving them mild mental retardation. The human and mouse world are surprisingly closely linked when it comes to genetics, with many developmental and other health issues having similar genetic causes in both species. It would be neat if someday someone were to research peanuts to find out exactly what has gone wrong with them, if there is a human equivalent for the condition. Peanuts are so uniform in their appearance, my guess is that with most of them, it is the same thing that has gone wrong, sort of like Down's Syndrome in humans. Zorro was such a neat little guy, it is sad he could not have lived longer, it would have been so nice to see what sort of an adult he would have made.
The pet store recently had two tiny peanuts who did make it to a month old, but then they were sold for snake food. I wish they had phoned me, I would have rescued them, rare little survivors like this deserve the chance to live. I think overall Zorro enjoyed his short life, if he had any discomfort, it was mild. The ending was relatively quick and quiet, he just faded away. I am so glad he was mine for the short time he was alive.
Music by Jon Bjork (Seen Better Days)
licensed by Epidemic Sound, epidemicsound.com
Finally the inevitable happens and little Zorro goes from active and full of life to unresponsive within a span of a few hours. Peanuts (the smallest of mousy runts) only very rarely ever live to adult hood, most die just after weaning. Zorro lived 18 days.
I am so glad I got him, I almost did not. I knew he was unlikely to live, plus I thought he would not be good for filming. But I could not leave him behind to become snake food. It was the best decision I could have made. He became the star of this series, he taught me and a lot of other people all about peanuts, he added interest to the series.
It was so sad seeing him fade away, but in his five days with me, he had been much loved, not just by me but also by his mousy foster parents, Hugo and Nora, who seemed to dote on him, giving him more attention than his siblings. My guess is that with peanuts there is a genetic flaw, making them weak, giving them a pinched, thin appearance, stopping their growth and giving them mild mental retardation. The human and mouse world are surprisingly closely linked when it comes to genetics, with many developmental and other health issues having similar genetic causes in both species. It would be neat if someday someone were to research peanuts to find out exactly what has gone wrong with them, if there is a human equivalent for the condition. Peanuts are so uniform in their appearance, my guess is that with most of them, it is the same thing that has gone wrong, sort of like Down's Syndrome in humans. Zorro was such a neat little guy, it is sad he could not have lived longer, it would have been so nice to see what sort of an adult he would have made.
The pet store recently had two tiny peanuts who did make it to a month old, but then they were sold for snake food. I wish they had phoned me, I would have rescued them, rare little survivors like this deserve the chance to live. I think overall Zorro enjoyed his short life, if he had any discomfort, it was mild. The ending was relatively quick and quiet, he just faded away. I am so glad he was mine for the short time he was alive.
Music by Jon Bjork (Seen Better Days)
licensed by Epidemic Sound, epidemicsound.com
