Looking for a home!

[Jkb4751]

I just acquired 56 mice. They're for a research project..no worries! It's nothing that will harm them in any way. They're getting fed human vitamins and being run through a maze. However, I am looking for people willing to take them in December. Free if you want them! I have homes for a few, I'm keeping some, but there are still a lot of mice.
Please if you want them take 2, they don't like being separated. I have males and females, white and brown. They're very friendly! I have actually had a chance to play with almost all of them. But they're happy and healthy and looking for homes :)

[tiffers]

I am curious, what is your hypothesis for your experiment? Are you thinking that human vitamins will do...what?

Also, be careful...you can easily overdose them on vitamins and minerals and create a tragedy.

[katiem]

I'm curious too...what would you need 56 mice for?

[Jkb4751]

The 56 mice are going into 7 groups...vitamins A D C B-6 B-12 E and a control. No worries, the mice are weighed and the dosage is based on their weight. There are several papers published suggesting that vitamins may affect how mice learn, either improving or decreasing. So, I'm running them through a maze, the maze changes each week, and I monitor the time it takes them to make it to the end of the maze. Based on previous research my hypothesis that vitamins will have some sort of effect on the learning ability.

[tiffers]

...who gave you the dosages? Not nagging, just curious.

[Jkb4751]

They're vitamins from Wal-mart, I'm giving the dosages myself. Lol...don't worry I have access to scales and precise instruments, not to mention I have about 8 people to double check my work.

[tiffers]

...not who's giving, who measured the dosages...told you how much to give per mouse based on weight. lol

[Jennicat]

If these are the mice you bought from the pet store, you really are not being very "scientific" about this. There's no way to prove that the vitamins helped or did not help. It's very easy for 8 mice to have crappy genetics and 8 to have great ones, especially when they're mill bred (and often inbred).

Labs have their own strains of mice with standardized genetics for testing theories such as this.

[Jkb4751]

Well, for this particular experiment genetics is not being taken into account. For me to actually be able to do that, I would one have to have a lot of money. Genetic mice are expensive. You pay for the number of weeks old the mouse is plus 3.50 per mouse, and they could possible have compromised immune systems depending on what genetics they may have or not have. Having mice from the pet store is actually better for this experiment because it does give a variety of genetics, therefore it will be more possible to see real differences. Each mouse is being run through before the treatments start anyways,just to get a base time.
Genetics could possibly affect their learning, but that's why there is a control group to compare each other group with. Most people unless their doing specific gene testings will just use regular mice.

Also-the measured dosages are being given by me, I did the calculations to determine how many mg.

[Jennicat]

Mice from pet stores are very often sick and inbred, so I'm not sure how that will be "better" for your experiments if you're trying to extrapolate from this. Maybe you will learn that extremely inbred people may benefit from taking vitamins? *confused*

Brand of vitamins also affects the experiment. Some vitamins just don't absorb well, particularly some of the cheaper multivitamin varieties. There are really a lot of uncontrolled variables in the experiment. :\

[katiem]

. Maybe you will learn that extremely inbred people may benefit from taking vitamins? *confused*



;)

I enjoyed that!

[nanamouse]

I'm thinking that unless you want your mice to become snake food you'll have to screen prospective owners very carefully.:(
I don't think I'd want the responsability of 56 lives on my hands.
Just a thought, but as fast as mice reproduce, have you seperated them by gender, or are they in mixed groups?

[ownedbystray]

Originally Posted by Jennicat
. Maybe you will learn that extremely inbred people may benefit from taking vitamins? *confused*

;)
I enjoyed that!

Me too. LOL

I couldn't take them, my cat would eat them :eek::p

[Jkb4751]

Haha i actually did enjoy that inbred people will benefit :) but anyway.....this isn't a super scientific research, just senior research so i can graduate :) But it is actually better because the genetics are mostly varied.
The experiment is actually very controlled, except for the genetics part, however, learning is a skill that is only partly based on genetics. And if my hypothesis is correct, then even the most inbred mice will see some sort of effect on their learning abilites....the whole point is to see if it increases or decreases. So the time after taking the vitamins is different than the time before taking the vitamins...that's pretty much what i'm going on. And my genetics professor agrees that if I do it this way i won't need to worry about genetics too much, it just may be a factor aka more research will have to be done.

And I know, I've already had several people ask for them for snake food. I said no. Some of them are going to good homes, I've already gotten a few people. Some are going to be classroom pets. Not the best, but not snake food.

And yes, the mice are definitely separated by gender. No babies thanks anyway. Lol I have enough mice..need no more.

[ManiaRina]

Where are you even located?

[nanamouse]

The experiment is actually very controlled, except for the genetics part, however, learning is a skill that is only partly based on genetics. And if my hypothesis is correct, then even the most inbred mice will see some sort of effect on their learning abilites....the whole point is to see if it increases or decreases.

Well, if it turns out that vitamins will help even the most inbred mice, then we need several truckloads of vitamins here in North Georgia! Human size dosages, please, this area has been isolated way too long!

[masterid]

I would be very happy:) is i get chance to acquire these mice. I love them most. I also would like to have best home (http://www.agritura.com/index.php/cat/c317_Rodents.html) for them......!!

Mice have always lived with people, mostly as unwelcome guests, more rarely as pets. In the last century they have taken on a new role as by far the most frequently used laboratory mammal. Their wild cousins make an occasional laboratory appearance but it is mus musculus (the house mouse) who lives and dies, quite literally in millions, in the laboratories of the world.

As laboratory animals, the status of mice is unique. The mouse is the only mammal which has been systematically bred to produce dozens of inbred strains that preserve and "fix" mutations giving a great variety of physical, physiological, and behavioral characteristics. Selective inbreeding has made these strains nearly genetically homogeneous. There are grey mice, brown mice, white mice, piebald mice, hairless mice, diabetic mice, waltzing mice, blind mice . . . the list is long and grows year by year. So they also may need ideal cage (http://www.agritura.com/index.php/cat/c317_Rodents.html)to live!!! :p