4 male rats, Vyff family
Shannon Vyff
04 Oct 2012
My children are wanting to get started on this project. We have three cages that are sitting empty from past rats, one is a large 3 foot cage with 5 floor levels. Two are smaller cages. We will house 2 male rats together in two separate cages, so they have each other for company. One set of rats will get to move between the two smaller cages, the other set will stay in the large cage. As with past rats, our new rats will get to be out of their cages for at least an hour a day-exploring desks, tables & beds that the kids supervise them on. (They make nice companions for kids doing homework)
We use males because they are more friendly than females. We also use only males so they will not breed.
I was planning on buying our baby rats this month, but want to ask first when the supplement will be mailed out? Are we all going to be feeding our rats the same thing? Also, I guess any age rat can participate?
We use males because they are more friendly than females. We also use only males so they will not breed.
I was planning on buying our baby rats this month, but want to ask first when the supplement will be mailed out? Are we all going to be feeding our rats the same thing? Also, I guess any age rat can participate?
Mind
04 Oct 2012
Yes, any age rat can participate. If you want to get rats now, that would be fine. We expect to test many different ages. It should not be too long before we are mailing out samples. thank you so much for participating Shannon. I hope your kids learn some cool things about science too!
Mind
13 Nov 2012
The other thing you will have to decide is what type of experiment you want to run. We are sticking with three variations.
1. You (and Vyff family) conduct the experiment in private, keeping a log of feeding, health, and behavior of your rats. Your report periodically to a Longecity supervisor to let them know how everything is going. Conducting the experiment in this manner could possibly deliver more robust scientific information.
2. You keep an open log of your experiment here in the forum. You (and Vyff family) post updates and pictures, so that everyone can follow along. You remain blind as to the substance you are feeding your rats (C60 or Placebo).
3. Same as 2 except that you DO know which rats are getting which substance.
The key to deciding (with the input of the kids as well) is whether they would like to post updates and pictures through the course of the experiment or if they don't mind doing version #1.
The key to deciding between 2 and 3, is if you and the family feel confident you can remain blind to which substance is being fed (as their could be emotional attachment the pets, 2 of them might live a lot longer!) and confident that you can feed them separately, so that the substances are NEVER mixed up.
If you are not confident, then you might opt for #3 and feed your pets all the same substance. This might be the least desirable scientific option, but you would still be contributing.
1. You (and Vyff family) conduct the experiment in private, keeping a log of feeding, health, and behavior of your rats. Your report periodically to a Longecity supervisor to let them know how everything is going. Conducting the experiment in this manner could possibly deliver more robust scientific information.
2. You keep an open log of your experiment here in the forum. You (and Vyff family) post updates and pictures, so that everyone can follow along. You remain blind as to the substance you are feeding your rats (C60 or Placebo).
3. Same as 2 except that you DO know which rats are getting which substance.
The key to deciding (with the input of the kids as well) is whether they would like to post updates and pictures through the course of the experiment or if they don't mind doing version #1.
The key to deciding between 2 and 3, is if you and the family feel confident you can remain blind to which substance is being fed (as their could be emotional attachment the pets, 2 of them might live a lot longer!) and confident that you can feed them separately, so that the substances are NEVER mixed up.
If you are not confident, then you might opt for #3 and feed your pets all the same substance. This might be the least desirable scientific option, but you would still be contributing.
Shannon Vyff
15 Nov 2012
Great timing Mind--we bought our rats last night! 4 male two month old rats, they are super cute!
The reason we want to feed all 4 the same is that we could not in conscious right now choose two rats to be the control and two to be in the experimental group. We are fine with knowing which ours are being fed (yet also fine without knowing) but we do want to feed all of them the some thing.
I will get pictures up--we can do a log, but it probably will not be the most meticulous log--more of a general one. I know it was suggested before that we take pictures twice a day, but that would be too labour intensive for our highly busy family. I can note their behavior health and feeding on a paper log and enter that online say weekly, or even monthly. I think pictures once a month would be fine--rats live for 24 months on average -so that would still be a lot of pictures.
The reason we want to feed all 4 the same is that we could not in conscious right now choose two rats to be the control and two to be in the experimental group. We are fine with knowing which ours are being fed (yet also fine without knowing) but we do want to feed all of them the some thing.
I will get pictures up--we can do a log, but it probably will not be the most meticulous log--more of a general one. I know it was suggested before that we take pictures twice a day, but that would be too labour intensive for our highly busy family. I can note their behavior health and feeding on a paper log and enter that online say weekly, or even monthly. I think pictures once a month would be fine--rats live for 24 months on average -so that would still be a lot of pictures.
Mind
15 Nov 2012
I will have AgeVivo chime in here as well, but I think we would prefer it if you DID NOT know which substance you will be getting (staying blinded). Of course, we will not know either...until the end of the experiment.
Thanks so much for helping out Shannon. Tell your kids they are awesome too!
Thanks so much for helping out Shannon. Tell your kids they are awesome too!
Shannon Vyff
15 Nov 2012
Blind is fine with us. The kids are still excited for the whole project, as they get to play with the rats (they are right now) and they think their pets might live longer 
I generally feed rats once a day, as they get quite over-weight on ad-lib --I have not read that we are to keep them to strict CR or once-a-day. I will post pictures here unless there is another place that we are also putting pics up.
I generally feed rats once a day, as they get quite over-weight on ad-lib --I have not read that we are to keep them to strict CR or once-a-day. I will post pictures here unless there is another place that we are also putting pics up.
AgeVivo
16 Nov 2012
Hi Shannon,
1. Great! yes to all discussed above,
2.
3. Also, could you (/your children) test the feeding procedure (with 1ml per animal and any kitchen oil) and report here how easy/difficult it was, and if you feel that it could be done every day during one week (that would be the first week of treatment; it would probably start in a few months; it could be chosen to be a vacations week for example): we need to collect a few of such feedback from experimenters before finalizingthe design (who gives what what animal age with what frequency protocol)
4. Long and happy life to the rats... and immensely long and happy life to their carers!
AgeVivo
Edited by AgeVivo, 16 November 2012 - 12:57 AM.
1. Great! yes to all discussed above,
2.
Wonderful! Having pictures from them now allows to visually check that they are about 2 month old.Great timing Mind--we bought our rats last night! 4 male two month old rats, they are super cute!
3. Also, could you (/your children) test the feeding procedure (with 1ml per animal and any kitchen oil) and report here how easy/difficult it was, and if you feel that it could be done every day during one week (that would be the first week of treatment; it would probably start in a few months; it could be chosen to be a vacations week for example): we need to collect a few of such feedback from experimenters before finalizingthe design (who gives what what animal age with what frequency protocol)
4. Long and happy life to the rats... and immensely long and happy life to their carers!
AgeVivo
Edited by AgeVivo, 16 November 2012 - 12:57 AM.
Shannon Vyff
27 Nov 2012
The pictures were taken November 16th. Sorry they are all landscape, the system uploaded them into landscape even though they were vertical on my computer. Next time I'll take landscape photos only to fit the forum system. 
We have already taught them to walk onto our hands & arms for treats. They will take bread with oil just fine, we have been giving them a variety of nuts, seeds, fruits and veggies in addition to the once-a-day rat/mouse food they get (a blend of various seeds and dehydrated veggies along with some lab chow)
We have already taught them to walk onto our hands & arms for treats. They will take bread with oil just fine, we have been giving them a variety of nuts, seeds, fruits and veggies in addition to the once-a-day rat/mouse food they get (a blend of various seeds and dehydrated veggies along with some lab chow)
YOLF
01 Jan 2013
Any news on your rats? Have you been feeding them the stuff from AgeVivo yet, or are you waiting until 10 months?
AgeVivo
07 Jan 2013
Hello, wishing you a happy new year, to you, your children, family and friends, and to the rats!
Do not hesitate to post progress here from time to time, especially perhaps take a picture of each rats and write caracteristics next to it (a little of brown hair here, soft or fuzzy hair, timid, curious, whatever, so that we can recognize their evolution with time, before and during treatment.
Sincerely,
AgeVivo
Do not hesitate to post progress here from time to time, especially perhaps take a picture of each rats and write caracteristics next to it (a little of brown hair here, soft or fuzzy hair, timid, curious, whatever, so that we can recognize their evolution with time, before and during treatment.
Sincerely,
AgeVivo
