Journal
LABORATORY ANIMALS
Volume 57, Issue 1, Pages 75-78Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/00236772221122132
Keywords
Environmental enrichment; cage cleaning; animal welfare
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study documents how rats separate their living space into different functional regions. The results indicate that when provided with separate spaces, rats move nesting materials away from the cage containing food and water sources, but preferentially excrete in the cage with water and food.
Here we document how rats separate their living space into different functional regions. Five groups of four female Sprague Dawley rats were housed in caging systems that consisted of two standard cages connected by a tube. Both cages were provided with the same amount of bedding and nesting materials, but only one contained food and water. Nesting cover and weight of each cage were measured once a week for five weeks during cage cleaning. We found that the cages with food and water had 9% less nesting material coverage but had gained 90% more weight when compared with cages where food and water were absent. These results indicate that, when provided with separate spaces, rats move nesting materials away from the cage containing food and water sources, but preferentially excrete in the cage with water and food.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available