One of my jobs is to supervise the rat lab. That doesn't mean I sit at a desk and write memos to tell people what to do. What it means is that I have to do a lot of things myself. One of the jobs that I do during the summer, due to the quieter environment, is to breed the animals that will be used for the Fall Research Methods class and for the Introduction to Psychology classes (to demonstrate how the animal model is used in research). Psi Betans also use the animals for research.
There is a three-pronged breeding approach to maintain a viable colony. The lines bred include pigmented to pigmented (from the same litter), albinic to albinic (same litter) and pigmented to albinic (same litter). Out of the 12 pairs bred, we definitely have 10 pregnant Moms-to-be.
