Development of <i>Acomys cahirinus</i> in the laboratory conditions

Abstract

The Cairo spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) is a unique animal model for studying ontogenesis and regeneration. At the same time, the features of its biology, in particular, the small number of pups in the litter, significantly complicate research work. The aim of the article was to study the behavior and reproduction of the Cairo spiny mice and to create the reproductive nucleus of the colony in our laboratory. This article describes the husbandry of Cairo spiny mice, and techniques of working with them, such as optimizing the diet and housing conditions, handling and marking for individual identification, and also some reproductive parameters of the colony. We have optimized the animal diet by adding dry arthropods, an important component of the spiny mice natural diet, as well as enriched the environment by placing to each cage the running wheels, tunnels and houses. As a result, an increase in the number of animals was obtained by more than 50% over 9 months; the overall survival rate of the offspring was 98%.