Rabbits, Guinea Pigs and Mice. (1988)

Abstract

We, the people involved in animal care, are trying to develop improved methods of keeping our animals, methods which will take into account more of the animals' behavioral needs. We now have a large number of rabbits in runs which permit them to have indoor and outdoor space. This allows them to jump, run, sit up and have all the social interaction they need. We believe that although our laboratory animals have not encountered a predator in generations, they still have the need for a haven when they are startled. Gordon Gray describes a box which we place in the large guinea pig bins and which serves as a place for them to duck into when they are startled. It provides us with a very useful tool because we make use of this response to catch the guinea pigs without having them fleeing all around the bin. We believe that the guinea pigs are much less excitable in this set up and we are putting together the study to demonstrate this. Jenny Boyd describes some additions we made to our mouse boxes, to provide cover and variety in the box, which provided us with some unexpected information. We found that the mice would use some of the additions as toilets, hence the title 'The Toilet.-Trained Mouse.' Again we have been able to benefit from a behavioral train since it is easier to change the 'toilets' regularly than the whole cage and the smell of mouse urine has been greatly reduced. We still have problems to overcome with all of our attempts to modify the way we keep our animals. However the technicians are enthusiastic about these approaches and so we persist. The modifications are not suitable for ever situation and it is quite probable that others have developed solutions which are equally good or better. Thus the value of your journal.