With funding from NASA we developed an automated vivarium that university researchers use for long-term metabolic studies with rats.

 

The system provides automatic temperature and humidity control, as well as subsystems for providing food water and waste collection.

 

A built-in color video camera permits daytime observations, an infrared video camera also is included to view the animals in the dark.  Visible and infrared LEDs provide the circadian light/dark cycles every animal needs.