Home Cage Environment
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09:30
A Protocol for Housing Mice in an Enriched Environment
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Cited by 70 •
2015
Environmental enrichment for mice requires a complex and challenging setup, as well as comprehensive husbandry and handling techniques to assure robust metabolic and anti-cancer effects in the mice. This protocol provides detailed procedures to reproduce the above mentioned effects in mice.
08:03
Maintenance of a Drosophila melanogaster Population Cage
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Cited by 7 •
2016
This manuscript reports a detailed protocol for culturing, on a regular basis, a population of Drosophila melanogaster using a fly population cage.
04:49
A Do-it-yourself System for Scheduled Feeding of Laboratory Rodents in Their Home Cage
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2025
This paper details the design, assembly, and protocol for an automated feeding system along with an alternative lid and cage modification that can be implemented on standard rodent cages with minimal modifications for tethered optogenetic or fiber photometry experiments. The feeding system offers a cost-effective tool for timed feeding and/or caloric restriction.
01:17
The Thoracic Cage: Sternum
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2023
The thoracic or rib cage forms the body's thorax (chest) portion. Its primary function in the body is to protect vital organs in the thoracic cavity, such as the heart and the lungs. It consists of 12 pairs of ribs with their costal cartilages and the sternum. The ribs are anchored posteriorly to the 12 thoracic vertebrae (T1-T12). The sternum is the elongated bony structure on the anterior side of the thoracic cage. It consists of three parts: the manubrium, the body, and the xiphoid process.
01:20
The Thoracic Cage: Ribs
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2025
Ribs are curved, flattened bones forming the thoracic cavity wall with the thoracic muscles. There are 12 pairs of thoracic ribs. The posterior ends of all the ribs articulate with the T1–T12 thoracic vertebrae. In contrast,the anterior ends of most ribs attach to the sternum via their costal cartilages. Parts of a Typical Rib A typical rib has a head, neck, and body. The posterior end of the rib is called the head, followed by a narrow neck. The head articulates primarily with the costal facet...
FAQs
Cage conditions influence behavior by changing sensory input, opportunities for activity, arousal, and social interaction. Dimensions and bedding can alter how animals move and engage with their surroundings, while lighting and temperature modify the conditions in which behavior occurs. Because these influences persist between procedures, observed responses may reflect housing-related effects as well as the experimental manipulation.
Social housing changes the interactions animals experience during daily life, including contact with cage mates and the social setting surrounding each procedure. Those interactions can influence arousal, activity, and behavior over time. Consequently, differences in social housing may introduce behavioral variation unrelated to the experimental treatment, making the housing arrangement an important factor when comparing animals or interpreting results.
Cage dimensions and bedding help determine the physical opportunities available to an animal, including space for activity and the sensory conditions it encounters. These features can shape movement, activity levels, and engagement with the cage. If they differ across groups, behavioral differences may arise from the housing environment rather than from the variable under investigation.
Standardization reduces the chance that housing-related variation will be mistaken for an experimental effect. Keeping relevant conditions consistent helps researchers distinguish treatment responses from influences associated with cage design, bedding, lighting, temperature, enrichment, or social housing. This improves the comparability of behavioral studies and strengthens the reproducibility and interpretation of their findings.
Monitoring should include cage dimensions, bedding, lighting, temperature, enrichment, and social housing. These conditions affect sensory input, activity opportunities, arousal, and interactions with cage mates, so records should capture changes that occur between experimental procedures. Tracking them allows researchers to identify potential housing-related influences and decide whether conditions require greater standardization.
A supportive design provides opportunities for species-appropriate activity while reducing chronic stress associated with unsuitable or inconsistent conditions. Researchers can consider cage dimensions, enrichment, social housing, bedding, lighting, and temperature together rather than treating any single feature in isolation. Such planning promotes animal welfare and helps produce behavioral observations that are easier to interpret.
Behavioral results should be evaluated alongside the conditions animals experienced between procedures. If housing alters activity, arousal, sensory input, or social interactions, it can contribute to the observed outcome and complicate attribution to the experimental manipulation. Reporting and standardizing these conditions helps researchers separate housing-related influences from treatment effects and compare findings more reliably.