Pre-Vet class crosses the term’s finish line with mice racing: Photo of the Day 10/29/16

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Emily Sherwood

The four white feeder mice that raced through the mazes.

by Emily Sherwood, Reporter

Mrs. Pat Beachy’s Pre-Vet/Small Animal Science class finished Term 1 with mice races. The class had been studying rodents for the past semester, and one of their assignments involved making a maze that a mouse would be able to finish.

Alyssa DeVries, Class of 2018, works at Rick’s Fish & Pet Supply in Frederick. She provided the class with four small, white feeder mice.

Class members raced three of the four mice.  (The fourth mouse suffering from dehydration.) Not only was one mouse dehydrated, but another mouse was pregnant.

The class had split into groups to make the mazes, each one very different from another. After making the mazes out of cardboard boxes and Popsicle sticks, students covered the mazes in plastic wrap to prevent the mice from climbing out.

DeVries said, “Mice can chew through a piece of cardboard in almost an hour. They can also climb, and they will gnaw or eat just about anything.”

This meant that the mice were bound to climb over the walls in the maze, and that they were going to chew on the sides and the plastic, making it more difficult to get them through the maze.

The mice spent around seven minutes in the mazes until they finally reached the end.

To watch the full video, click the link below!