Colleges, Universisites and Medical Schools

Pharmaceutical Companies

Private Research Facilities

Private and Public Hospitals

Breeding Facilities

State and Federal Research Facitities including: NIH, CDC, EPA, VA and USDA

Here are a few testimonials from satisifed customers.









                                                                                                                                      Department of Medicine (RMH/WH)
                                                                                                                                                                                    Sept 2007

To whom it may concern,

Since October 2006 The University of Melbourne Department of Medicine (RMH/WH) has been operating with 13 of our 20 OptiMICE racks in use.

These racks, in a facility not designed for individually ventilated cages have allowed us to make maximal use of the space while maintaining a specific organism free environment, housing 15 mouse lines ranging from the standard control and transgenic lines through to experimental animals.

Our mice housed in the OptiMICE system are breeding at the same rate or better than they previously did in standard open top cages. The transparent cages allow for easy non invasive observation of mice, such as health checks, birthing and experimental observations, reducing the amount of stress on the animals. Animal behaviour remains normal even while the racks are being gently turned to access other animals. Some previously jumpy strains have also begun to quieten down since the move to this system.

OptiMICE cages have proven to be easy to use, with no parts requiring maintenance at this stage. The system was connected to our exhaust by AACS staff and there have been no problems with airflow since the installation. This direct installation to the room exhaust which vents directly outside ensures there are no animal odours in the facility expect in the wash area, a set up that is providing comfort to researchers with allergies The movement of air through the cages via the low placed front filter and high placed back filter, coupled with the use of aspen bedding has reduced the frequency of cleaning required, thus lowering the stress on animals, and allowing staff to focus more on welfare and techniques than just cleaning. The addition of the tunnels has proven beneficial for our stock mice by providing environmental enrichment which they use by hiding in, climbing upon and moving around the cage. To date there have been few instances of chewing and the tunnels increase the floor space of the cage allowing us to house up to 8 mice of certain weights per cage. The tunnels are easy to wash, sterilise and stack. Tunnels are not provided to breeders. The option of two different sized feeders for higher and lower cage capacities, a powder feeder and a tox floor (perforated wire bottom), have proven to be very helpful in our particular experiments.

We have had very few occurrences of floods from the bottles as they do not tend to block or flood unless they are improperly capped or the bottle itself is damaged. There have been some instances of gnawing on a particular corner of the bottles, however by re-positioning the hanger this is can be evenly spread reducing the risk of floods.

Overall the system has proven to be beneficial to our facility, allowing us to hold more animals than our previous facility with the added ease of handling and health monitoring, with little maintenance to the units themselves. The customer service from both the AACS and the ACS teams was excellent from the first contact point where they were willing to design additional items for the cages, and this service has continued to this date I have no hesitation in recommending this system to other users and I encourage them to seek the advice of AACS when laying out and installing into the facility. Thanks to the extra care given by the AACS team the delivery and installation of the system into our facility was quick and much easier than anticipated.

Kind Regards

Jennifer Davis
BRF Manager
The University of Melbourne
Department of Medicine (RMH/WH)

UPDATE: February 2008

We house mice in groups with a maximum of 8 per cage using the tunnel troughs as enrichment. We also use the recommended Aspen bedding which has increased the time between our cleaning cycles, too much sawdust however will increase the frequency of changes as it won't dry out properly in the cage. Cages with 8 mice are cleaned weekly; cages of 6-7 can go from 10 to 14 days but generally require a top up of feed after 7 days as we have the smaller sized feeder, water will last for 10 days in a cage of 7 mice. (All of this is of course dependant on size and sex of the animals).

Click here to download a PDF copy of this letter








I am a basic researcher with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience who has been working with rodents and rodent caging for about 18 years. Animal Care System's OptiMICE caging system is by far the most convenient for the researcher, and the most comfortable for the animals, of any system that I have ever worked with. I am a keen observer of rodent behavior, and I am convinced that the OptiMICE set up affords the most naturalistic and least stressful laboratory environment possible for mice. The wedge shape of the OptiMICE cage, and the internal shape of the cages allows the animals to exercise a fuller range of natural nesting and climbing behavior than other rectangular configurations. I believe that the breeding efficiency of my mouse colony has been optimized by their being housed in OptiMICE cages.

For the user, the cages stack nicely, are durable, easily picked up with one hand, easy to secure in place on the rack as they dock to verify proper placement. The price of the caging system is competitive with others, but I think the real value lies in the breeding efficiency of the animals and the safety for both animals and users of a properly working system. Perhaps most important has been the instant responsiveness of the team at ACS to my suggestions for improvements to the system. I was one of the first users of the OptiMICE system, and in response to some initial issues with the water bottle, food hopper structures, and the cage card holders, the team at ACS quickly remedied the situation with design improvements that eliminated any previous problems. As far as I am concerned, the OptiMICE system as is currently in use is completely problem free.

I have nothing but positive things to say about ACS, and will always be happy to give them rave reviews on not only the products, but their absolutely stellar customer service.

Sharon Low-Zeddies, Ph.D.
MusWorks, Inc.
Falls Church, Virginia

Click here to download a PDF copy of this letter














                                                                                                                                     
                                             MICE and Optimice Systems of Caging
                                                                    In use at
                                       The Queensland Institute of Medical Research

The Queensland Institute of Medical Research is one of the largest medical research institutes in the southern hemisphere, with programs in areas such as cellular and molecular sciences, epidemiology and population health, human genetics, cancer biology, biotechnology, infectious diseases and vaccine development.

We have had the Mice and Optimice caging systems in use in our animal facility since October 2005. The focus of animal based research at QIMR covers work in the areas of Transgenic Mouse production, maintenance of several breeding lines, cancer research, tropical /infectious diseases and vaccine technology. We currently have 3000 cages in operation and will expand housing capacity to over 6000 cages in the near future.

A large component of our immunology work is carried out on Nude and SCID mice. Previously these strains of mice were housed in static micro isolator cages, which resulted in increased variables within the research. We also have several strains of Knockout and Transgenic strains with phenotypes which render them, immuno-compromised, environmentally sensitive and poor breeders.

Our experience with the new caging systems over the past 3 months has produced positive outcomes in all areas of our animal based research. We have noted an increased production rate in all breeding lines, a reduction in variables in research outcomes and reduced aggression in grouped males. We have also found the changing of cages on a fortnightly basis has produced a sounder environment for the housing of mice, as the disturbances of standard husbandry practices, previously carried out on a weekly basis, were a contributing factor in many of the variables in our research outcomes. The use of change stations and biohazard cabinets when accessing mice has also eliminated the exposure to common air exchange and maintained the individual containment of each cage.

The cage design allows technical staff the ability to observe the animals in each cage without removing them from the rack. The cage also provides environmental stimuli for the animals as the design includes platforms and climbing areas, resulting in more activity. This increased activity in healthy mice allows the identification of animals that require attention due to illness.

In the timeframe of 3 months the MICE and Optimice systems have already proven to be an invaluable asset in the future of animal based research at QIMR.

Suzanne Cassidy
Facility Manager
Queensland Institute of Medical Research


Click here to download a PDF copy of this letter