SnackerTracker

Accurately measuring activity and feeding is frequently important in laboratory animal research, whether for welfare-monitoring or experimental recording. Quantification commonly involves manual pellet-weighing; however, this can physically disturb animals and cannot continuously assess both the amount and pattern of feeding. Improved means of food-intake measurement have been developed yet are often costly and incompatible with cage configurations. We therefore developed and validated the SnackerTracker—a cost-effective, open-source, and user-friendly measurement system which continuously records food-intake, food-seeking activity, and ambient light conditions in the home-cages of small laboratory animals.