Animal Care Services

The University of Florida’s department of Animal Care Services (ACS) provides day-to-day management and operation of a rodent breeding colony.

This breeding colony is managed as a barrier facility. All breeder stock introduced to the facility are Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) in compliance with the ACS rodent SPF policies; available at acs.ufl.edu/policies. Many animals are purchased from “approved vendors”; commercial vendors with comprehensive and reliable quality assurance programs. Other animals that originate from “unapproved vendors”, such as an academic institution or governmental agency, are only introduced to the colony after undergoing ACS quarantine and sentinel program testing. The breeding colony facility is behind two levels of biometrically controlled security doors—one at the vivarium entrance and a second at the suite itself. Only trained ACS staff, facility engineering staff, and escorted guests (such as Principal Investigators) are permitted within the colony. Only trained ACS staff members perform animal husbandry tasks or technical procedures.

ACS technical staff consists of AALAS certified technicians. The colony manager has over seven years of breeding colony management experience gained in an industry setting. The colony coordinator has over four years of rodent colony management experience gained at Jackson Laboratories and in academia. The level of training and experience of the colony’s staff, their standardized practices, the quality and technology of the animal housing systems, and the functional capacity of the vivarium itself, taken together directly contribute to production economies and efficiencies and to animal stock consistency.

All breeders are maintained in either individual ventilated cage racks (IVCR) or semi-rigid isolators. All supplied ventilation is HEPA-filtered. Each IVCR and isolator has sentinel animals in place to provide colony quality assurance. Sentinel animals are tested quarterly. All animals are maintained on a 12:12 hour light cycle. Animal housing room lighting has two available lighting levels that are motion sensor controlled. Room lights can not be turned on during the scheduled hours of darkness (only a room red light is available).

Room air temperature and humidity, light cycles, room air pressure balancing, and automatic watering systems are all electronically monitored. Automatic text message notification is provided to facility engineers if environmental parameters exceed set points or equipment malfunctions.

Water provided is Reverse Osmosis (RO) for animals maintained on IVCR and RO, and autoclaved for animals maintained in isolators. Water is tested monthly for microbial contamination, and annually, samples are collected for comprehensive water quality testing, e.g. heavy metals, trihalomethane, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, and herbicides. All food is irradiated and specialty diets are provided as requested and/or as indicated for breeding colony productivity.

Animals are housed on sterilized direct contact bedding. Animal caging is polysulfone construction of size sufficient to meet or exceed ILAR Guide standards. Following routine mechanical sanitization (tunnel/rack washer), all cages are then autoclaved before animals are introduced.

ACS staff maintains breeding records to track stock/strain/line heritage. This is available to investigators via a web based platform. Investigators can request breeding scheme strategy adjustments at any time.

Tail biopsy samples are collected by ACS staff, as requested by the investigator, for genotype testing. ACS staff follow the provision of the ACS Tail Biopsy Guideline; available at http://acs.ufl.edu/guidelines.Other tissue samples can be collected as requested by the investigator (mucosal swab or blood for example). Individual animals are permanently identified at the time of biopsy either by ear punch/notch or ear tags.

Pups are weaned at 21 days of age, unless extended weaning is necessary to enhance survival rates. Animal weight at weaning can be measured and recorded if requested. If requested by the investigator, culling by gender is provided to enhance survival rates of the target gender.

Available ACS services include, but are not necessarily limited to:

- Set up mating pairs
- Maintenance of the breeding database
- Timed matings
- Copulation plug checks
- Weaning
- Tail biopsy
- DNA preparation
- Blood collection
- Animal identification
- Antibiotic water administration
- IP or SQ injections
- Litter weight at weaning
The University of Florida’s department of Animal Care Services (ACS) provides day-to-day management and operation of a rodent breeding colony.

This breeding colony is managed as a barrier facility. All breeder stock introduced to the facility are Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) in compliance with the ACS rodent SPF policies; available at acs.ufl.edu/policies. Many animals are purchased from “approved vendors”; commercial vendors with comprehensive and reliable quality assurance programs. Other animals that originate from “unapproved vendors”, such as an academic institution or governmental agency, are only introduced to the colony after undergoing ACS quarantine and sentinel program testing. The breeding colony facility is behind two levels of biometrically controlled security doors—one at the vivarium entrance and a second at the suite itself. Only trained ACS staff, facility engineering staff, and escorted guests (such as Principal Investigators) are permitted within the colony. Only trained ACS staff members perform animal husbandry tasks or technical procedures.

ACS technical staff consists of AALAS certified technicians. The colony manager has over seven years of breeding colony management experience gained in an industry setting. The colony coordinator has over four years of rodent colony management experience gained at Jackson Laboratories and in academia. The level of training and experience of the colony’s staff, their standardized practices, the quality and technology of the animal housing systems, and the functional capacity of the vivarium itself, taken together directly contribute to production economies and efficiencies and to animal stock consistency.

All breeders are maintained in either individual ventilated cage racks (IVCR) or semi-rigid isolators. All supplied ventilation is HEPA-filtered. Each IVCR and isolator has sentinel animals in place to provide colony quality assurance. Sentinel animals are tested quarterly. All animals are maintained on a 12:12 hour light cycle. Animal housing room lighting has two available lighting levels that are motion sensor controlled. Room lights can not be turned on during the scheduled hours of darkness (only a room red light is available).

Room air temperature and humidity, light cycles, room air pressure balancing, and automatic watering systems are all electronically monitored. Automatic text message notification is provided to facility engineers if environmental parameters exceed set points or equipment malfunctions.

Water provided is Reverse Osmosis (RO) for animals maintained on IVCR and RO, and autoclaved for animals maintained in isolators. Water is tested monthly for microbial contamination, and annually, samples are collected for comprehensive water quality testing, e.g. heavy metals, trihalomethane, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, and herbicides. All food is irradiated and specialty diets are provided as requested and/or as indicated for breeding colony productivity.

Animals are housed on sterilized direct contact bedding. Animal caging is polysulfone construction of size sufficient to meet or exceed ILAR Guide standards. Following routine mechanical sanitization (tunnel/rack washer), all cages are then autoclaved before animals are introduced.

ACS staff maintains breeding records to track stock/strain/line heritage. This is available to investigators via a web based platform. Investigators can request breeding scheme strategy adjustments at any time.

Tail biopsy samples are collected by ACS staff, as requested by the investigator, for genotype testing. ACS staff follow the provision of the ACS Tail Biopsy Guideline; available at http://acs.ufl.edu/guidelines. Other tissue samples can be collected as requested by the investigator (mucosal swab or blood for example). Individual animals are permanently identified at the time of biopsy either by ear punch/notch or ear tags.

Pups are weaned at 21 days of age, unless extended weaning is necessary to enhance survival rates. Animal weight at weaning can be measured and recorded if requested. If requested by the investigator, culling by gender is provided to enhance survival rates of the target gender.

Available ACS services include, but are not necessarily limited to:

- Set up mating pairs
- Maintenance of the breeding database
- Timed matings
- Copulation plug checks
- Weaning
- Tail biopsy
- DNA preparation
- Blood collection
- Animal identification
- Antibiotic water administration
- IP or SQ injections
- Litter weight at weaning