Rat and Mouse Colony Management

Effective colony management includes detailed breeding plans, accurate genotyping, and clear model identification. Maintaining biosecure housing, monitoring model health, and planning for study needs are essential. These practices help reduce variability, prevent delays, and keep your scientific research on track.

1. Verify Your Strain 
Confirmation of a strain's genotype and background is crucial before the strain is introduced into your facility. Genetic background characterization using our SNP panels can help you plan future backcrossing efforts of your mouse or rat strains. Genotyping confirmation of your lines can avoid costly mistakes with your breeding colonies.

2. Preserve and Protect Your Strain
New strains that are either created at your facility or imported from another location should be cryopreserved to protect against loss in the case of a natural calamity or other unforeseen event, such as misbreeding or a facility disaster. Archiving these stocks also benefits reproducibility since the preserved stocks are bred less frequently and are, therefore, less susceptible to genetic drift.

3. Optimize Data Collection and Recordkeeping
Mouse colony management demands attention to local and international regulations and guidelines, policies, and best practices. A single misplaced cage, cage card, or even animal from a tagging mistake can negatively impact your colony or derail a protocol. Your rodent colony management efficiency highly depends on meticulous data tracking and rigorously following SOPs and best practices, which is all recorded in our Internet Colony Management (ICM™) system.

Colony management includes strategic breeding plans with superior housing arrangements designed to ensure a consistent, genetically accurate animal supply that aligns with your study needs without the burden of managing these tasks in-house.

We house your genetically engineered models in biosecure facilities with isolators, filter-top cages (FTC)*, or individually ventilated cages (IVCs) that feature environmental controls, enrichment, and daily care by our trained technicians.

*Filter top cages available in the EU only. 

Outsourcing can save time from having to complete the day-to-day management of your colonies and open facility space for other projects while improving the quality of your animal models and the reproducibility of your research. Outsourcing eliminates extra infrastructure and reduces risks tied to breeding errors, health issues, and staffing shortages so that you can focus on the science, not the logistics.

With dedicated project managers and our Internet Colony Management System (ICM™), researchers and laboratory personnel have 24-hour access to manage their colonies and data from anywhere. ICM also provides two-way, real-time communication ensuring data accuracy and project alignment – acceleration the communication between you and your program manager. 

Our project managers are dedicated to your project and have years of experience in scientific and colony management needs. They are responsible for devising breeding plans, monitoring projects, and tracking data. They also communicate milestones and ensure logistics for the timely delivery of your colonies. 

Models are housed in isolators designed to exclude contaminants and ensure a healthy, stable, and sterile environment. 

Charles River has plenty of space and can accept your colonies within a week of your request. With dedicated project managers, logistical support, and the ability to accept lines with any health status, our housing and breeding services are a natural extension of your facility.