Cotton rats

• Coat: color combination varies; gray, brown, black
• Litter average: 5.5
• New World rodent: Sigmodon hispidus
• Susceptible to a wide range of human infectious disease agents

Origin:

Sigmondon hispidus (Cotton Rat) is a New World rodent that was developed by the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and Virion Systems, Inc. In 1996, Harlan obtained a breeding nucleus from Virion Systems, Inc. Harlan became Envigo in 2015, then Envigo was acquired by Inotiv in 2021.

Cotton Rats Revised Health Monitoring Panels and Schedule

Historically, cotton rats were housed in open top caging along with commercial rats and mice. Health monitoring was performed indirectly utilizing both mouse and rat sentinels and running health testing panels associated with all three species. To optimize our overall footprint and enhance facility operations, we are relocating the cotton rat colony from Indy 202 to a updated space at 265 Greenfield in early fall 2026. Once they are housed in 265 Greenfield site, they will housed in IVC caging and have cage changes performed in Biological Safety Cabinets (BSC). The cotton rats are no longer housed with mice or rats.

The new facility requires an update to their health monitoring panels and will test cotton rats directly. We are removing species-specific mouse/rat agents and adding three susceptible viruses: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Influenza A, and Influenza B. Full details on panels, organisms, and schedules in the downloadable PDF.

As verification, traditional health reports utilizing indirect testing were compared to new direct testing health reports.

Other changes include:

1. All samples will be collected directly from cotton rat cages. This includes fecal and NSP samples (oral swabs, fur swabs, dried blood spot and fecal).
2. Cotton rat sentinel cages will be established (one per double sided IVC rack).
3. SiFT (Sentinel Free Filter Testing) will be utilized on a quarterly basis in a separate cage.

• United States - 202C - Indianapolis, IN

Available regions:

Order code: 201 - BE

• Hematology and clinical chemistry - female cotton rat
• Hematology and clinical chemistry - male cotton rat
• Model information sheet - EU
•  Cotton Rats Revised Health Monitoring Panels and Schedule