C57BL6 (Strain Name)

I work with mice at lab. I work with mice at my apartment. It’s pretty similar – in lab you give the mice food, and run experiments on them. For example, you might listen to their ultrasonic vocalizations, or check their responses to sound in the human-audible spectrum, or perhaps in the ultrasound range. In my apartment, the mice eat up the food I accidentally leave out (and sometimes even the food that I hide). To make them go away, I’ve invested in mouse traps, rodent poison, and even ultrasound devices.

But there are differences. If you’ve ever read the Little Golden Book, City Mouse, Country Mouse, you’ll know what I mean. The “city mouse” (aka the lab mouse) is nice, chic, and clean. They are kept in well-maintained facilities with bedding that gets replaced. They are given a constant supply of food and water, and experience perfect light-dark cycles in a temperature controlled room. The “country mouse” (aka the apartment mouse) is dirty, hungry, and scared.

At lab, we have to follow hundreds of regulations to make sure that the mice are being humanely treated. But what about the mice in my apartment? If the lab inspectors saw what kind of conditions apartment mice lived in, they would have a fit. That doesn’t mean I’ll be leaving out food and water any time soon. Shoo, mice, shoo!