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Care of Mastomys in the laboratory

Abstract

Mastomys rodents occupy a valuable niche in biomedical research, but there is very little published information regarding how to care for them in the laboratory. Here we provide information about the physical and behavioral characteristics of this unusual laboratory rodent, its taxonomic history, common diseases that affect it, and its use in research. We also provide housing recommendations based upon almost 15 years of experience successfully maintaining a colony of Mastomys coucha at our institution.

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Figure 1: Typical cage setup for Mastomys.
Figure 2: Shelters for Mastomys.
Figure 3: Various commercially available nesting materials after one week of housing with Mastomys.
Figure 4: Secondary resting sites.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Rodent Services Unit in the Yale Animal Resources Center for sharing their experience managing the breeding colonies of Mastomys over the years. In particular, Tom Nuzzo provided valuable input on breeding and coordinated the projects to assess various enrichment strategies and measure intra-cage environmental parameters to assess adequate cage change frequency. Cathy King from the Yale Office of Environmental Health and Safety performed the intra-cage ammonia and carbon dioxide measurements associated with this project. We also thank Mark Kidd, the most recent PI of the Mastomys projects, who collaborated with us in assessing various environmental conditions as well as evaluating perioperative strategies to address post-operative complications. We also appreciate his thoughtful review of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jodi Scholz.

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Scholz, J., Wilson, S. Care of Mastomys in the laboratory. Lab Anim 45, 219–224 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.1018

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