Cold stress avoided
in laboratory mice –
increase carpet tog.
Temperature is an important element of animal care and it’s crucial to ensure that captive animals don’t overheat or suffer cold stress. Laboratory mice are often housed with a floor substrate of wood chips which may be useful in reducing cold stress.
Freymann et al (2017) found that the depth of this floor material influenced mouse physiology. Specifically a deeper wood chip layer resulted in mice with reduced adrenal, liver, kidney and heart weights and an increased tail length. These traits have previously been observed in mice housed under warmer conditions suggesting that the deeper substrate material is acting as an insulator and could be used to reduce cold stress in this captive species.
Original research: https://doi.org/10.1177/0023677217694400