FEEDING OF LABORATORY ANIMALS - SMALL RODENTS (MICE,RATS AND HAMSTER)

Feeding of laboratory animals - Small rodents (Mice, rats, hamster)

• Feed rodent chow.
• Feed a high fat chow for breeding animals for extra energy, low fat diet for non breeding animals
• Put food in the mouse food hoppers at least 1/2-2/3 full and fill completely weekly. 
• Never recycle food.
• Give mice and gerbils 3-6 grams of food per day- approximately one biscuit per animal per day; hamsters 15-20 g, or 3-4 biscuits/animal/day; rats 20-50 g or 4-10 biscuits/animal/day. 
• Pellets provide something to gnaw on and help wear down the continuously growing incisor of rodents. Powdered diets usually require addition of a gnawing substrate or monitoring of tooth growth. 
• Place food pellets on the bottom of the cage for hamsters with litters.
• Some diets need to be sterilized. If this is done by autoclaving, it is essential to use an autoclaveable chow that is formulated to be nutritionally adequate after being exposed to high temperatures. Irradiated diets are already sterile and do not require autoclaving. 

Watering - Small rodents 

• Re-fill bottle that are less than 1/2 full.
• When filling, leave 1 to 1-1/2" of air space in the top of the bottle so it functions normally. 
• Replace if the water bottles leaks.
• An adult mouse or gerbil consumes less than 10 ml water per day; hamsters 25 ml/animal/day; rats 20-75 ml/animal/day. A water bottle holds 500 ml. 
• Use potable water to fill bottles. 
• Mice less than 6 weeks of age or 20 g, unweaned animals, and animals within the first two weeks of weaning must have a free-flow rather than a ball-bearing sipper tube in their cage water bottle, unless otherwise specified.
• Sanitize water bottles and sipper tubes weekly. Soak sipper tubes in a in a detergent-disinfectant for an hour to remove debris. Check the function of the ball bearing in ball-bearing sipper tubes. If the bearing sticks, discard the tube. 

Feeding - Rabbits & guinea pig

• Check food hoppers every day for caked or dusty feed. Discard caked feed and "fines" as necessary. 
• Check feed labels as guinea pig & rabbit food all look similar. 
• Rabbit feed with high fiber may be used to prevent obesity and GI obstructions. 
• Guinea pig feed has Vitamin C added. 
• Guinea pigs eat up to 35-60 g daily, rabbits will eat 100-250 g/day, but should be given no more than 120 g (4 oz or 1/2 cup) per day to prevent obesity. 
• Excessive feeding of produce for enrichment may cause diarrhea. 

Water - Rabbits & guinea pig 

• Sanitize all water bottles, stoppers, and sipper tubes weekly. 
• Rabbits will drink up to 500 ml water daily, guinea pigs as much as 50-100 ml daily. 
• Put at least 2 water bottles for rabbits and guinea pigs. 

Guinea pigs are messy drinkers and cages can get wet very quickly