National Institute on Aging > Research > Scientific Resources > Aged Rodent Colonies Handbook
Print this page E-mail this page

Shipment of Animals

The objective for maintaining these colonies is to provide animals for aging research that are in good health, but characteristic of aging animals. Therefore, the best looking animals are not selected for shipping, but rather, animals are selected at random. This means, particularly in older animals, that you may get some "scruffy" looking animals or animals exhibiting common conditions of aging such as small tumors, cataracts, loss of hair, stiffness of limbs, etc. Tumors in particular are commonplace in older rodents. These conditions are not justification for replacement. If your protocol requires animals free of such conditions, it is your responsibility to order enough animals to allow you to select preferred animals. You may request “No Tumors” or “No Cataracts” on the order form but that will only apply to visible tumors or cataracts. It will not guarantee that small tumors or cataracts will not be present in the animals shipped.

Occasionally, periods of high or low temperature make the air shipment of aged animals extremely risky. Animals exposed to hot or cold loading docks and airplane holds under these conditions are quite likely to die or to suffer temperature stress. When such conditions exist, we will call you to inform you of the delay of the shipment until the temperature moderates. The NIA will not ship animals by air during such weather advisories. Shipments made by environmentally controlled trucks are not affected by weather except during severe storms. If you have questions about this policy, please contact the NIA office.

To calculate shipping/transportation costs: You pay for each crate and to ship each crate. We do not mix ages or animals coming out of different barriers/areas. We recommend air shipment of caloric restricted animals for locations where truck delivery would require more than one day transit time. BALB/cBy males are currently being shipped in compartmentalized crates, maximum of 5 mice per crate, to prevent fighting. Shipping costs for each contractor are below. The maximum number of animals per crate is 6 (Harlan) or 10 (Taconic) rats or 20 mice from the aging colonies, depending on age and size, and 2 rats from the caloric restricted colony.

Harlan

U.S. Truck Crate

$13.50 each ($13.75 effective 4/1/08)

International Air Crate

$16.50 each

Harlan Truck Freight

$41.00 (subject to change)

Air Freight-Domestic

$45.00 - $90.00 per crate (subject to change)

Gel Transit Packets

$1.90 each (2 required per crate)
($1.95 effective 4/1/08)

Water kits

$5.60 each (optional)
($6.00 effective 4/1/08)

Taconic Farms

Taconic Transit Cage (TTC)

$18.14 each

Truck Freight

$10.76 per TTC (subject to change)

Air Freight-Domestic

$30.00 - $75.00 per crate (subject to change)

Gel Transit Packets

(included in cost of TTC)

Taconic charges all customers an Order Processing Fee of $72.00 per order; this is independent of the NIA costs.

Taconic uses poly-screened TTCs for air shipments and non-poly screened TTCs for truck shipments. Use of poly-screened TTCs for truck shipments can be requested on the order form.

Charles River Laboratories

Shipping Crate

$10.20 each

Truck Freight

$20.60 per crate (subject to change)

Air Freight-Domestic

$30.00 - $75.00 per crate (subject to change)

Gel Transit Packets

(included in cost of crate)

 

  • Contact Information
  • Available Strains
  • Ordering Instructions
  • Eligibility Criteria for Use of the NIA Aged Rodent Colonies
  • Price Schedule - Aging Colonies - NIA Grantees
  • Price Schedule - Aging Colonies - Non-NIA Funded Grantees
  • Caloric Restricted Colony
  • Location of Colonies
  • Shipment of Animals
  • Animal Replacement Policy
  • Optional Services
  • Colony Monitoring and History
  • Barrier Environmental Information
  • References on the Use of Rodents in Aging Research
  • Strain Survival Information
  • Downloadable Forms
  • Oldest Ages Available in NIA Aged Rodent Colonies
  • NIA Rodent Colony Health Summaries

  • Page last updated Jan 10, 2009