LABORATORY CAGING PREFERENCES IN GOLDEN-HAMSTERS (MESOCRICETUS-AURATUS)

Physical aspects of the laboratory environment, such as type of cage o r bedding, are often ignored by investigators but may be quite importa nt for the animals. We examined whether golden hamsters preferred livi ng in wire mesh floored, stainless steel cages or solid floored, plast ic cages with corn-cob litter. Forty hamsters of 2 ages were housed in wire or solid floored cages for 3 weeks. Caging preference was then t ested using a choice apparatus in which hamsters could move freely bet ween the 2 cages for 6 days. Scan data were collected on cage occupati on and behaviour. Results showed that most hamsters preferred the soli d floored cage with litter, but prolonged experience on wire led to a wire floored cage preference in 40% of these animals. Also, wire-house d hamsters showed higher levels of hoarding and lower levels of gnawin g behaviour during testing, and spent significantly different amounts of time from litter-housed hamsters performing sleeping, exploring, gr ooming, gnawing, eating, and hoarding behaviours while on solid floore d cages with litter. This study shows that previous housing condition can affect cage preferences and behaviour and supports the assertion t hat husbandry practices can be better evaluated by asking laboratory a nimals, rather than only humans, how their living conditions are perce ived.