title: Preference of guinea pigs for bedding materials: wood shavings versus paper cutting sheet.
abstract: The preference of guinea pigs for bedding materials, wood shavings (WS) or paper cutting sheets (PS), was studied. Animals aged 8 weeks and 20 weeks showed a similar behaviour pattern during 30 min in the light, preferring WS to PS regardless of ages. Over both light and dark periods for 24 h, guinea pigs apparently preferred WS in the light, spending much more time resting in them than in PS. In the dark, the border-crossing was significantly more frequent than in the light, and the staying time was rather longer in PS than WS. The results suggest that guinea pigs prefer different bedding materials under light and dark conditions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Animals, Shimane Medical University, 89-1 Enya-cho, Izumo 693-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Shinpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ago
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gonda
authors.forename: Sadao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Komemushi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory / Q000523:psychology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003624:Darkness; D006168:Guinea Pigs / Q000523:psychology*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D010209:Paper; D014934:Wood