Housing Environment
Trumouse can serve as long-term housing for mice, or be used only during experiments. This chapter sets out the recommended conditions for housing mice in the arena: group size and housing duration, the enclosure, water and food, bedding, lighting, the equipment’s effects on the animals, and cleaning. The actual housing and experimental arrangements are governed by the protocol approved by the Animal Ethics Committee (AEC) of the researcher’s institution.
Group Size
Section titled “Group Size”Table: Recommended group size
| Item | Trumouse Pro | Trumouse Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Arena | 1200 mm × 1200 mm | 600 mm × 600 mm |
| Recommended number of mice | 20 | 5 |
| Average floor area per mouse at the recommended number | approx. 720 cm² | approx. 720 cm² |
Up to the recommended number, we guarantee stable and accurate identification and tracking. More mice can be housed in the arena, but we recommend spot-checking the tracking results manually.
Housing Duration
Section titled “Housing Duration”The equipment imposes no limit on housing duration and can run continuously over long periods. We have completed a continuous 3-month housing study and verified stable operation over 1 year of continuous running. The actual housing duration is determined by the approved protocol.
Each record should last at least 15 min while the mice are active, and at least 30 min while they are inactive, so that tracking trajectories initialize correctly.
Enclosure and Escape Prevention
Section titled “Enclosure and Escape Prevention”Table: Enclosure
| Item | Trumouse Pro | Trumouse Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Enclosure wall height | 800 mm | 600 mm |
| Top | Open | Closed by an acrylic Top Panel |
The Universal Ports on the enclosure wall are used to mount functional modules such as water and food supplies. Any Universal Port not in use must be closed with its blanking plate fixed in place to prevent mice from escaping.
Water and Food
Section titled “Water and Food”- Water: a water bottle connected through a Universal Port with a 3D-printed adapter, or a disposable water pouch.
- Food: suspended around the arena through the Universal Ports.
Bedding
Section titled “Bedding”Spread bedding approximately 5 mm deep over the area used by the mice, and no deeper than 10 mm. Deeper bedding impairs identification by the LF Reader Modules.
Absorbent pads that mice cannot chew may be used instead. Using the arena without any bedding is not recommended: it produces strong odors and makes cleaning more difficult.
Lighting
Section titled “Lighting”- Trumouse Pro: the arena is open, and visible light comes from ambient lighting outside the equipment, such as the laboratory ceiling lights.
- Trumouse Lite: the Top Panel carries its own lighting. The arena is not fully light-tight, so we recommend keeping the room dark so that the only light in the arena comes from the Top Panel.
The daily lights-on and lights-off times are set in the Console’s light schedule, which analysis uses to separate light and dark phases (see Checking the Light Schedule). When a light control board is connected, the Console switches the lights according to the schedule; otherwise, keep the room lighting consistent with the configured schedule. Illuminance in the arena is logged continuously by the light channel of the environmental monitoring (see Environmental Monitoring).
Temperature, Magnetic Field and Noise
Section titled “Temperature, Magnetic Field and Noise”- Temperature: the Reader Array floor operates at approximately 100 W (Trumouse Pro) and 25 W (Trumouse Lite). A ventilated air gap beneath the floor dissipates this heat, so there is no noticeable heating and the arena floor stays at room temperature. The equipment’s operating temperature range is 20 °C to 26 °C.
- Magnetic field: the LF Reader Modules emit a low-power 134.2 kHz near field, using the same technical standard (ISO 11784/11785, FDX-B) as readers for pet and laboratory-animal identification microchips. Our tests show that this field decays rapidly with distance.
- Noise: the equipment uses high-quality power supplies and does not itself generate high-frequency noise. The sound level in the arena is logged continuously by the noise channel of the environmental monitoring (see Environmental Monitoring).
Cleaning
Section titled “Cleaning”Clean the arena as often as any other mouse housing:
- For long-term housing, clean approximately every 7 days: wipe all surfaces in the arena that the mice can reach, and replace the bedding.
- Before introducing a new batch of mice, give the arena a complete wipe-down so that odors left by the previous batch do not interfere with the experiment.
Remove all mice from the arena before cleaning. They may be picked up and transferred directly; if an external home cage is connected to the arena, you can instead wait until all mice have entered it and then transfer them.
Choose cleaning agents according to your institution’s standard operating procedures (SOPs).