The implementation of tunnel handling in a mouse breeding facility revealed strain-specific behavioural responses.

ABSTRACT: As a step towards implementing non-aversive handling techniques at a big mouse breeding facility in Germany, tunnel handling was introduced in a breeding unit comprising three inbred mouse strains. To assess whether tunnel handling would be feasible for the animal technicians in their everyday work and beneficial for the mice when being handled during weekly cage change only, the behaviour of tunnel- and tail-handled animals of both sexes was examined before, during and after the handling events over a period of nine weeks. Moreover, the time expenditure was compared between both handling techniques. It was possible to use the tunnel in all three mouse strains. However, the impact of the handling techniques on the behavioural parameters investigated in the present study were strain-specifi

SUBMITTER: Hohlbaum K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11633062 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature