How to mark nude mice - (Oct/31/2005 )
Has anyone ever used the tattoo system that is on the marketed for marking numbers on mouse tails? What has your experience been?
Cindy
Cindy
It's easy to read with little possibility of error and causes less distress than ear punching. It's also expensive and sometimes requires the mouse to be anaesthetised. There's an overview of the various methods here.
Has anyone ever used the tattoo system that is on the marketed for marking numbers on mouse tails? What has your experience been?
Cindy
It's easy to read with little possibility of error and causes less distress than ear punching. It's also expensive and sometimes requires the mouse to be anaesthetised. There's an overview of the various methods here.
Tattooing is probably the best form of identification, besides micro-chipping. Check out an Aims tattoo system. I have used it in 2 labs and it cuts time in half of IDing animals. Have used earpunching but if animals are group housed there is the possibility of the ears being chewed and then punches are useless.
Tattooing is probably the best form of identification, besides micro-chipping. Check out an Aims tattoo system. I have used it in 2 labs and it cuts time in half of IDing animals. Have used earpunching but if animals are group housed there is the possibility of the ears being chewed and then punches are useless.
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A stupid question from a non-mice worker: Why are these expensive/time-consuming/painful methods? Isn't it easier just to write numbers (or any other sophisticated identification code) with a waterproof pencil on the back of the mice? And if its rubed away just renew.
hobglobin
[quote name='hobglobin' date='Jun 23 2006, 02:44 PM' post='56833']
Tattooing is probably the best form of identification, besides micro-chipping. Check out an Aims tattoo system. I have used it in 2 labs and it cuts time in half of IDing animals. Have used earpunching but if animals are group housed there is the possibility of the ears being chewed and then punches are useless.
[/quote]
A stupid question from a non-mice worker: Why are these expensive/time-consuming/painful methods? Isn't it easier just to write numbers (or any other sophisticated identification code) with a waterproof pencil on the back of the mice? And if its rubed away just renew.
hobglobin
[/quote]
OK, if you treat 10 or 20 mice for 2 weeks with some drugs, it would be easier to take a pen
But when you work with transgenic mice, you have hundred of mice, genotyped, and you don't want to have to label them each two days again !
We use a pen when we are working on animals for short term ... which is fairly frequent since I work in an MRI facility and the animals are usually only kept in our area for a little while (they come from several different investigators). Most of the mice I work with have either ear punches or toes cut (definately more functional for the larger populations), but while we keep them we use a pen and mark their tails for quick identification purposes.
Has anyone ever used the tattoo system that is on the marketed for marking numbers on mouse tails? What has your experience been?
Cindy
It's easy to read with little possibility of error and causes less distress than ear punching. It's also expensive and sometimes requires the mouse to be anaesthetised. There's an overview of the various methods here.
Tattooing is probably the best form of identification, besides micro-chipping. Check out an Aims tattoo system. I have used it in 2 labs and it cuts time in half of IDing animals. Have used earpunching but if animals are group housed there is the possibility of the ears being chewed and then punches are useless.
Seeing you have first hand experience with the AIMS system ,
how does it work? It seems really expensive vs. purchasing a tattoo gun ( AIMS -quoted ~2000$ for set up and training vs. 375$ for a gun from JAR-VET)
any info you (or anyone else) has on the actual working of the system would be great. Thanks