# Investigation of Appropriate Sanitization Frequency



## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

I ran across this article when looking for lab cages. After scanning it, I thought some of you might want to read it.

Investigation of Appropriate Sanitization
Frequency for Rodent Caging Accessories:
Evidence Supporting Less-frequent Cleaning

http://www.disposablecages.com/download ... yStudy.pdf


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## willa2602 (Mar 18, 2011)

Thanks, this might be a useful source for my dissertation.
Annie x


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

YEA! I'm very glad I posted it then. What is your dissertation on? Are you at the masters or doctorate level? My Masters degree required action research. The background research for these levels is something people usually don't understand until they go through it. Best wishes and remember to get some sleep from time to time.


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## willa2602 (Mar 18, 2011)

LOL, I wish, just on my BSC Hons, last year of my degree. It's on mouse nesting behaviour, mainly, I've done all the field work though  (SWAT) everyone in the class hates me for it  . Luckily we did a mini-dissertation in the second year, helped me realise starting early's best  . Thanks, I'll try  .
Annie x


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

YOu might like this too:
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## Gill (Sep 16, 2011)

A very interesting article - I skimmed it rather than read it in detail, but the conclusions are not what you would expect. However, unless I missed it, they did not take into consideration the effect on the respiratory system of mice of an unsanitized cage. 
(I too have a degree, but it's in Geography with Geology, so not much help with mice)


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## Shadowrunner (Sep 26, 2011)

wow. that was interesting. Iv'e kept mice in a variety of cages, ultimately deciding to stick with a button quail cage.like one in the front row of the picture in my link. I do a good scrub out once a moth and do a wipe out every week. I wonder what kind of sanitary measures they would recommend with a aquarium, those things get smelly and messy quick.

link
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VI ... 0797745941


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Gill said:


> A very interesting article - However, unless I missed it, they did not take into consideration the effect on the respiratory system of mice of an unsanitized cage.


The paper refers to healthy. In a lab situation it seems that respiratory healthy should be a big deal to ensure results are accurate. With that in mind, I would think that the author lumped respiratory health in with the other health issues. If you think about it, mice tend to live in very stinky places in the wild. If respiratory problems were extremly common in those nests, the species should have more problems. The rate of birth may help counter the effects, but I can't shake the idea that they don't regularly clean their nests like we tend to do for them. I didn't notice, were they using a closed air system? I wonder what impact those systems have on the air quality.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Wild meeces probaby just move into a new nest when the old one gets stinky.


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Think about all the mice and rats in the sewer systems in large cities. A mouse colony can be very large and exist in the same area for an extended amount of time. A colony has constant bubs being born and mums taking care of them.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Has anyone ever tracked a wild mouse colony to see what happens? There are a lot of things I've wondered about wild meeces, like how long they live, how many litters they have, what the effect of inbreeding produces in that setting.


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

I read somewhere that the huge litters we sometimes get today are not natural, but mice were selectively bred to produce larger litters for labs.


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## willa2602 (Mar 18, 2011)

I read somewhere that there are selectively bred mice that will produce around 30 pups at a time!! So definitely no wild mice producing that many i should think. But i did find a litter of nine pups from a wild mouse who was living in my shed, she had an easy life  . I think that was a fairly normal size litter for pet type mice to have???
Annie x


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Nine is fairly normal for pet-typed mice, yes. The deer mice (different species) around here produce quite a few pups, but quickly kill/eat or lose the majority. A doe who keeps four to weaning is doing very well.


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## Gill (Sep 16, 2011)

The woodmouse I rescued had a litter of 4 (plus one that didn't develop).


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