Many people confuse a vivarium with a veterinary clinic in Moscow with the same name. In fact, officially a vivarium is a place for conducting experiments on animals for research purposes. In this article we will examine in more detail what it is and how it is arranged from the inside.
What is vivarium
Vivarium is a place for keeping laboratory animals that are used in the educational process or for conducting experiments. As a rule, a vivarium belongs to a biomedical institution and can be provided with equipment and conditions for conducting experiments on existing animals, and it can also serve for their breeding and serve as a nursery.
Vivarium device
What is a vivarium, more or less clear, but how is it built from the inside? The device depends on what kind of animals are in it and what kind of experiments are carried out. Microbiological vivarium usually consists of five rooms isolated from each other:
- One room for primary processing and inspection of the animals received and their quarantine.
- Another is for keeping healthy animals.
- Another room for keeping experimental animals.
- The following is for sterilizing and washing cells, drinking bowls and feeders.
- And the last - for cooking and storing material for bedding and feed.
Dimensions
In the vivarium there should be a place for experiments, an operating room for opening animals, a warehouse for equipment and a room for staff. The volume of rooms is calculated based on standard indicators:
- one rabbit - 0.75 m 3;
- 10 mice - 1.5 m 3 ;
- one dog - 2 m 3;
- 10 guinea pigs or 15 rats - 3.5 m 3.
Small animals are usually kept in low jars or metal cages, covered with metal lids with holes and convenient for disinfection.
Cell sizes are also standard and depend on the type of animal:
- for a rabbit - 50-70 x 40-50 x 40-50 centimeters;
- for guinea pigs (7-8 pieces) - 65-90 x 55-60 x 40 centimeters;
- for mice (7-8 pieces) - 30-50 x 40 x 25 centimeters.
Dogs are kept in enclosures at least 2 x 2 x 2 meters in size.
Conditions of detention
The second most popular question about what a vivarium is is the question of the content and conditions in which experimental animals live. For feeding animals, auto-feeders, feeders and auto-drinkers are used. As food, a standard combined feed is used. In some situations, animals can be fed as directed by the experimenter.
The rooms in which animals live must be bright, with constant humidity, a comfortable temperature and good ventilation. Vivarium rooms and laboratories should be built in such a way that they can be easily washed. The walls and floors are made of well-washable materials, and there should be gutters on the floor. Cleaning is done with a flexible hose under pressure.
The vivarium is carefully protected from the penetration of rats, cats, mice, dogs, as well as horse flies, flies, mosquitoes and other insects. In order to avoid the spread of infection among animals, the following rules must be observed:
- the room where the food is prepared is located away from the room for the primary processing of only incoming animals;
- in the ventilation of rooms where there are infectious or newly arrived animals, there must be special filters to prevent the spread of infection through the ventilation ducts;
- each vivarium must have cells for quarantining animals.
The bodies of dead animals are burned.
Radiation
Animals that used radioactive substances of any kind should live in separate special rooms in which floors and walls are covered to a height of 2 meters with glazed tiles and plastic, and the upper part of the walls and ceilings should be painted with oil paint. Cells for such animals are made of plastic or metal and coated with acid-resistant varnishes. Pallets should also be plastic or metal. Vivarium radioactive waste is poured into a special sewer or collected in containers for disposal in designated areas.
Rules for employees
All vivarium workers must wear protective clothing. Upon contact with infectious animals, employees receive separate sets of clothing for work only in quarantine rooms. Next to these rooms are dressing rooms with a compartment for disinfection of the used form. All employees must observe good hygiene practices so as not to become infected by animals. When working with radioactive isotopes and especially dangerous infections, a special regime and rules of work are established.
Not all people know what a vivarium is. And often this place is treated negatively. Each person has his own attitude to such experiences. But an important aspect in the work of vivarians is the humane keeping of animals and the justification of research from a scientific point of view.