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this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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This isn’t baking class 🥺
It can be, you just need to squeeze harder.
Worst icing ever
Noooooo. Poor rattie :(
They generally don't mind this
I'd like to see their survey results
Had pet rats for a couple of years. You can tell when they're unhappy.
This pic looks like the same from a post people talked about how this is used to transport lab rats around a lab, that it cam be comforting to them, comfy confinment or something. tldr the rat is safe (for a likely lab rat) and this is humane treatment.
Not really. It causes them stress. “Safe” and “Humane” are variable. But it definitely isn’t the “best” restraint method.
lifting and holding by the tail, and handling using a soft plastic restraint cone, resulted in significant increases in mean arterial pressure and heart rate compared with baseline.3 The authors concluded that being lifted in a restraint cone appeared to be the most disturbing handling method for the rats, followed by the tail method, as determined by prolonged duration of increased cardiovascular parameters as compared with the encircling or scruffing methods.3
As for example explored by this paper: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10844733/
Noted, thank you...now I need to read these papers to learn the actual "best" method of restraint...even though ive never really seen a mouse in my life and likely never will need to restrain them.
For mice it’s tunnel handling, where you just let them walk into a tube and pick that up. You do need to scruff them to hold them for actual procedures and to examine their teeth and stuff, but it’s really stressful for them to be snatched out of their home by the tail.
For rats it’s just picking them up with your hand over their back and under the armpits and then support the bum with your other hand like you would a kitten or any other small domestic critter. Rats are generally more calm and don’t mind being picked up, mice don’t love it and will jump or run away or bite.
i just do what my cat does and pick them up with my mouth. they did not appreciate it at the vet clinic.
I think that really depends on the individual, some rats are skittish and don't like being handled at all. The best way to handle them is to leave them alone.
Humans should test their shit on themselves or on some other human that they can explain the risks to and agree compensation.
Humans should test their shit on themselves or on some other human that they can explain the risks to and agree compensation
And medical research would grind to a halt. As unfortunate of relying on these creatures is, their fast growth, short lived, and rapid reproduction cycle makes them perfect for all kinds of research.
The rat is safe in that it can't hurt itself or others, but they feel the same about this kind of confinement as humans do. I guess whether that counts as humane is a matter of opinion.
Unfortunately this is rather tame compared to the fucked up shit we put cute little ratties through in the name of science.
I know… :(.
I’m sure some of it is worthwhile. But knowing a couple applied researchers who work in animal labs, according to them a large amount of what is done is absolutely useless and only serves to get out a new useless product TM or publish a paper that looks good.
Ow lawd, he pipin
rats, rats, we are the rats
For those who don’t know, this is how some labs use rats and mice when the are uncooperative. I don’t think the intent is to hurt the mouse, just to contain it briefly.
Not saying it’s okay or not okay. Just saying why it’s like this.
I’ve seen a vet do this to a rat at the vet who was very much only interested in climbing
it definitely doesn't hurt the mouse, maybe they're a bit uncomfortable but it's just all-round the best solution for everyone involved
Uncomfortable?!! No. I’ve had plenty of those serotonin potatoes as pets and they love tight spaces. A Sputnik-House is made for 2-3 rats.
Well, 7 can fit in there, the 8th just had the head in there.
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This image fills my heart with dread :[
This reminds me of when a lab technician explained to me what happens to all the mice at the end of the experiment. 😭
The fucked up part are the experiments, not the euthanasia.
Rats have to be killed because we don't know if they will continue to suffer after the painful experiments done on them. They can't be let out either because it can harm the general rat population. Companies don't give enough of a shit about keeping rats alive in rat retirement homes either.
which is doubly so sad because rats don't even live that long :( if an experiment lasts 1,5 years an average rat will only live for 6 more months. a rat retirement home wouldn't even be a big commitment
but also like, it's kinda nice to not do cancer research on humans, for all that animal testing sucks human testing is almost universally viewed as 1000x worse and doing no testing at all is also unacceptable because that means we don't decrease the amount of humans who suffer terrible diseases and deaths (which for reference can be you or people you love).
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Ahh that's why my cake icing taste like Black Death
Shame whoever took this
This is how we treat rats in the lab. Sorry if you buy any products tested on animals.
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Piping hot rat.
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