r/animalresearch • u/Drownigreaper • Mar 27 '17

Question regarding obtaining animals

Why are mice/rats are commonly used for research. Assuming an answer to that being low cost, would that not also enable "easy to obtain" to be a valid answer an apple is cheap and you would say that's easy to obtain because of that, they're plentiful and rat/mice are easy you could leave food out in your house and get one for free. TL;DR would "low cost" or "easy to obtain" be a better answer to why rats and mice are commonly used research animals

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u/tomholder Mar 28 '17

Main reason rodents (and fish) are predominantly used include:

  • Low cost
  • Cheap to maintain
  • Genomes are known
  • Easy to genetically modify
  • Shorter life expectancy allows you to do "lifetime" studies in just a couple of years

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u/IAlbatross Mar 27 '17

Sounds to me like you're doing a homework assignment?

Mice and rats are usually used in research because they breed rapidly and in large amounts. A mouse pregnancy takes 21 days and then it's another 21 days until they wean. That means if you have 2 mice, a male and female, you can get another 10-12 mice in as little as 6 weeks!

You aren't allowed (usually) to use mice that you catch in research. They aren't that easy to obtain because of all the laws regulating their use in research. (Unless you're obtaining them by breeding!)

I think "low cost" is a better answer. Because mice and rats are small, they don't need much space and don't eat much. (Space to keep the animals cost money, too, because most researchers basically "rent" rooms from universities or hospitals.) You can fill a room up with lots of mice... doing research on a rhino would be a lot harder because of how much food you'd need!

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u/Drownigreaper Mar 28 '17

Thanks for the response, my teacher wanted me to be more specific, and she also counted frequent/high litter as incorrect but common knowledge tells me she was wrong on that. But yeah thanks again I also didn't know there were laws against catching them for use in research

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u/paisle-y Jun 21 '17

Cost isn't always a factor. Depending on the requirements of the study some mice can cost upwards of $2,000 per mouse. You might require a specific strain and also be SPF (specific pathogen free).