Materials
Procedure
1. Get listed materials.
2. Prepare the cage with bedding, water bottle, and some cat food.
3. Put mouse and rat in cage together.
4. Take rat and mouse out and feed soy milk through eye dropper.
5. This takes the place of mother�s milk.
6. Once subject is no longer dependent on soy milk stop feeding soy milk.
7. Once fed put back in cage.
8. Should be fed every hour, unless you are asleep.
9. Failure to feed soy milk may result in death of subjects.
10. Let live peacefully with small cardboard tube, separate subjects when they fight.
11. Change food, water, cage, etc.
12. Repeat steps 1-8.
Hypothesis
My hypothesis was exactly that� a hypothesis. As far as my knowledge went this had never been tried before. We couldn�t find anything on the internet about it and we had no idea what would happen. It was a shot in the dark. Well as far as my hypothesis went, it wasn�t very detailed, at least the one I handed in to Mr. Purnell. It read �I think the two species will get along after a day.� The hypothesis I had in my mind had a rat and mouse playing around together after fighting.
Results
The results of this project have been good so far. The rat likes the mouse and the mouse likes the rat. The mouse, Split, and the rat, Bob, ignored each other. The very next day Split is scared by a hand and runs over to Bob. Bob protects Split from the hand. Then Bob escorts Split to his tube and they stay in the tube. They fall asleep together. Every following day they sleep together. Bob will not drink water and is looking sickly. Mr. Purnell tells us to find out about nutritional needs for baby rats. On a website called Rat Care: Feeding we found it. We fed Bob with an eye dropper for the nipple and soy milk as his mother�s, Faith�s, milk. They got along together well and have enjoyed each others company greatly. They are both very affectionate to each other and play/groom each other hourly.Conclusion
When we wanted to do this we had no idea that something like this hadn�t been tried and if it had, why it didn�t receive any coverage. We thought that it had been tried. But once we started we couldn�t find any information about this sort of thing. It was fun and educational. Bob and Split have not yet fought. Of course they are still small but I have doubts that they will fight when they are older. We will see. Well my hypothesis (the one for my teacher at least) was correct, so far.
Special Thanks
Sources of Error
Well there were many areas where we could commit a mistake, I do not think we actually made a mistake. We could have during the way to feed, the food, everything. Everything went well, so I�m going to assume that we didn�t make a mistake� we might have, though.
Materials
Procedure
1. First we picked a baby mouse out of Bo�s litter. Its name was Split and it was a female. We put it in its new home temporarily, a cardboard box.
2. Next we picked out a baby rat from Faith�s litter. They didn�t have names yet. That rat didn�t look so good so we took it out. That rat died that same day. It got trampled and broke its neck.
3. We picked out a new rat from Faith�s litter. This rat was the most active out of the litter and it was a male. Stephen Shortall (my partner in this experiment) and I named it BOB. We would have to feed him manually because he couldn�t go back to get his mother�s milk since he had mouse scent on him. We fed him soymilk 5 to 10 times a day.
4. BOB and Split quickly met each other and liked each other. Then they went and stayed in opposite corners.
5. The next morning we went and saw them sleeping next to each other.
6. We had class that day and while I was out of the class Split jumped to the top of the box which would be equivalent to about 15 feet!!!
7. I took them home for the weekend and put them in there new home, my old fish cage. I put them next to my guinea pig to see if there would be any interaction between them. All that happened was that my guinea pig seemed to be jealous of BOB and Split because they were getting all the attention.
8. BOB and Split burrowed themselves underground and slept there. I watched them as they played with each other. BOB would jump on Split and then run as Split chased him around the cage, through the roll until split jumped on BOB and then Bob would chase Split until he got tired then he�d stop because he was a lot slower than Split.
9. The next week Split and BOB had been sleeping together but since there was a hole in the top of the cage split got out so we had to put a towel over it.
10. That weekend Steve took them home and didn�t inform me on any information.
11. BOB had been getting so big because of the manual feedings. The other baby rats were about two thirds the size of BOB. BOB would probably grow up to be the dominant rat but he won�t because the others would kill him because he had mouse scent on him.
12. Split and BOB had been getting along fine and sleeping together.
Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that the mouse and rat will form a relationship when they are young and carry it out throughout their life.
Results
BOB wasn�t grown fully yet, so we are going to continue our research. But Split and BOB are getting along the way any 2 three year-old HUMANS would.Conclusion
So far BOB and Split have been fine together so I think that they will grow up and be friends. Later on we might put other animals in the cage and see in BOB tries to protect Split.
Special Thanks
