An automatic feeder for infant rats.

Abstract

An automatic feeder for infant rats was developed which consisted of a rectangular container in which tubes were passed through the front and back walls and sloped slightly from the back to the front. Nursing bottles were inserted into the tubes from the back until the nipples projected 5 mm from holes in the rubber stoppers which closed the tubes at the front. At the surface of the front wall around the nipples, there was material similar in feel to that of the skin and fur of mother rats. Milk was fed from a tank to the nursing bottles by a peristaltic pump. After training 3-day-old infants which were nursed by mother rats during the first three days, they found the nipples and suckled milk by themselves. At the time of weaning, the automatically-fed infants gained as much weight as the mother nursed-infants.