Mice hand reared en masse
One of my duties while working in the Pathology, actually it was a research Lab in the Pathology and so I hadn’t any contact with the routine goings on, was to look after the mice in the animal house. The mice ‘belonged’ to the PhD students and where used for their experiments. I had to make sure there were enough available. We had someone called C to feed the animals and keep the rooms and cages clean.
The animal house was in the basement of a separate building and when you opened the main door and put on the corridor light one could hear cockroaches as they scuttled off into the gloom. This was always one of the highlights when I had to show the new students around. The cockroaches were not because the place was not well looked after, but because C’s hobby was to raise them! Every now and then some would get out into the basement and start there own families.
Another highlight was what I called the initiation ceremony. This worked better in winter than in summer. On leaving the Path lab with the new students I would make sure they had something to carry in their bare hands in the cold air. I kept my hands in my warm pockets until we were in the basement.
I would then demonstrate to them how to catch a mouse and hold it behind its neck so as to make it immobile and then turn it over exposing its belly.
Then it was their turn.
As I had warm hands nothing happened, but if one of the students hands were still cold from outside on turning the mouse over onto its back it would invariably trigger urination in a high arch! The smell was one thing, trying to wash the urine from ones hands quite another!
One day I took H to see the mice, she was a little hesitant but her inquisitiveness got the better of her.
As we entered one of the narrow rooms where the mice were kept I didn’t immediately put on the light, and in the semi-dark there came an underlying soundscape of scratching and squeaking from all directions. H was getting a little panicky so I put on the light and she saw for the first time the racks of cages of mice on both sides of the room.
The space to manoeuvre was only just over a meter between the racks and she was getting apprehensive about where she was with so many mice in close proximity. I asked her to close her eyes and hold out her hands. I then took a handful of pink baby mice and placed then in her coupled hands. She was so surprised when she opened her eyes and saw and felt the pile of wriggling mice that her angst subsided somewhat and fascination got the better of her.
The animal house was in the basement of a separate building and when you opened the main door and put on the corridor light one could hear cockroaches as they scuttled off into the gloom. This was always one of the highlights when I had to show the new students around. The cockroaches were not because the place was not well looked after, but because C’s hobby was to raise them! Every now and then some would get out into the basement and start there own families.
Another highlight was what I called the initiation ceremony. This worked better in winter than in summer. On leaving the Path lab with the new students I would make sure they had something to carry in their bare hands in the cold air. I kept my hands in my warm pockets until we were in the basement.I would then demonstrate to them how to catch a mouse and hold it behind its neck so as to make it immobile and then turn it over exposing its belly.
Then it was their turn.
As I had warm hands nothing happened, but if one of the students hands were still cold from outside on turning the mouse over onto its back it would invariably trigger urination in a high arch! The smell was one thing, trying to wash the urine from ones hands quite another!
One day I took H to see the mice, she was a little hesitant but her inquisitiveness got the better of her. As we entered one of the narrow rooms where the mice were kept I didn’t immediately put on the light, and in the semi-dark there came an underlying soundscape of scratching and squeaking from all directions. H was getting a little panicky so I put on the light and she saw for the first time the racks of cages of mice on both sides of the room.
The space to manoeuvre was only just over a meter between the racks and she was getting apprehensive about where she was with so many mice in close proximity. I asked her to close her eyes and hold out her hands. I then took a handful of pink baby mice and placed then in her coupled hands. She was so surprised when she opened her eyes and saw and felt the pile of wriggling mice that her angst subsided somewhat and fascination got the better of her.
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