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An examination of nest-building behaviour using five different nesting materials in C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

B Obermueller ,
C Castellani ,
H Till ,
B Reininger-Gutmann  and
G Singer
B Obermueller
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Research, Medical University of Graz, Roseggerweg 48, 8036 Graz, Austria Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 34, 8036 Graz, Austria
C Castellani*
Affiliation:
Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 34, 8036 Graz, Austria
H Till
Affiliation:
Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 34, 8036 Graz, Austria
B Reininger-Gutmann
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Research, Medical University of Graz, Roseggerweg 48, 8036 Graz, Austria
G Singer
Affiliation:
Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 34, 8036 Graz, Austria
*
* Contact for correspondence: christoph.castellani@medunigraz.at
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Abstract

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The aim of our study was to assess the nest-building behaviour of two mouse (Mus musculus) strains using different nesting materials and examine possible sex- and housing-specific effects. Adult mice of two strains (C57BL/6J; n = 64 and BALB/cAnNCrl; n = 99) were randomly allocated to the following housing groups: single-housed male, single-housed female, pair-housed male and pair-housed female. One of the following nest-building materials was placed in each home-cage in a random order: nestlets (Plexx BV, The Netherlands), cocoons (Carfil, Belgium), wooden wool, crinklets and compact (all three, Safe, Germany). The following day, nests were rated applying a nest-scoring scale ranging from 0 to 10, the nests were removed, and a different nest-building material provided. In both tested strains, nestlets achieved the highest nest-building scores when compared to the other four nest-building materials. All nest-building materials scored higher in BALB/c mice compared to C57BL/6J animals reaching statistical significance in crinklets only. Sex comparison revealed that female C57BL/6J mice only scored significantly higher using crinklets than males and BALB/c female mice were rated significantly higher using wooden wool, cocoons and compact than their male counterparts. While pair-housed C57BL/6J animals built higher-rated nests than single-housed mice in the C57BL/6J strain in all five materials tested, the scores were not significantly different in the BALB/c strain. Results of the present study reveal significant strain-, sex- and housing-related influences on the complexity of nests using different standardised building materials. Such observations need to be taken into account when planning the optimal enrichment programme for laboratory animals.

Keywords

animal welfarebehaviourenrichmentlaboratory micenest buildingnest-building materials
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , November 2021 , pp. 467 - 477
Copyright
© 2021 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

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