I would like to have two rats, simultaneously having access to the same running wheel, but I also want to know which rat is using the wheel. So I think the best solution would be to combine an implanted transmitter (and a RF receiver) with the wheel activity software.
Hi,
I think the key words are "Passive Integrated Transponder technology". Every rat gets a transponder and every wheel a reciever.
Similar technology was used e.g. for the study of partial fish migration in Sweden (http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/6/1140) by Christer Brönmark (http://canmove.lu.se/sv/staff/senior/christer). In the above mentioned article you find all specifications of the used PIT-tag antenna system.
Best,
Tamara
Hi Tamara,
Thank you for your answer, it is now much easier for me to find relevant info.
The PIT technology works well with "field studies" (http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/passive-integrated-transponder-pit-tags-in-the-101289287) but I am wondering if it may work in "rats' laboratory conditions" because the cages are much smaller than lakes or pools.
Indeed: "Note that if two tagged animals pass the same reading station at the same time, the reader will not be able to read either tag." So, it depends on the spatial and temporal resolutions of the newest technology.
Best,
Damien
I will keep looking at other references, but in the meatime if anyone has interesting facts or info to share, do not hesitate!
I am pretty sure that fot rats in laboratory it is much easier than with fish in natural lake systems with incoming and outgoing streams...
See here aswell: http://www.cyntag.com/Animal%20ID%20Tags.htm
And good luck!
Best,
Tamara
Small RFID tags (about the size of a grain of rice), could be implanted in the sub-q fat layer under the neck. A customized receiver could be built in to the stable solid portion of the wheel such that a metal shield prevents identification of an adjacent rat, and allows only the rat using the wheel to be identified. This may require some engineering and trial and testing to get your rig to work perfectly every time.
Thanks for your answer.
Indeed, I was either thinking of 1) installing the receiver on the solid side of the wheel (as you mentionned) or 2) using a small gate with a combination of an optical barrier and a circular RFID antenna (in a way that accessing the wheel leads to disrupting the optical barrier that triggers the activation of the antenna which records the rat crossing the gate).
In my opinion, both methods could be implementaed but they both have drawbacks. For (1), what if both rats are using the wheel?
For (2), there may have some interferences when a rats is very close to the gate when the other disrupts the optical barrier...
I think that you could u s e the RFID passive system; you put the trasponder (receiver the rf modulated signal) on the rat and the Tx antenna (this has one side connected to rfid reader) on the wheel. Then the software does the rest.
See Med-Associates.com they sell an RFID reader and transponder system.
1)in this case surely the rfid system identify them. However you can develope software in order to discriminate the first rat that identified. So, another evet can be: if the system take over both rats in the wheel, then it signalize with alarm and you 'invite' to go out either one.
2)Sure!There would be some 'false reading' in the sense that the system signalize the presence of the rat in the wheel but indeed they can be very nearby it. In this case you can decrease the sensitivity of redear.
Another solution can be use the camera instead than the optical barrier. In fact, the rfid system signalize the presence, and at same time, you analyze the image (this procedure must be automatic) if there's both rats you leave closed the entrance.
I know this discussion is some years old, but we now have a solution:
http://www.biobserve.com/behavioralresearch/products/rfid-running-wheel/
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