[Food and water intake of the rat in a recording device]

Knowledge of the normal eating and drinking habits of the rat is indispensable for comparative experiments concerned with the cariogenicity of different diets. At a time six rats were maintained individually in a registration apparatus (Hofer, Switzerland). Food (basal diet "ssniff") and normal tap water was made available ad libitum. The amounts of food and water, as well as the frequency and duration of food intake, were registered by a pen recorder, which was connected to an electronic balance. The experiment began with three week old rats, and lasted 9 weeks. Conclusions on the procedure of short term caries experiments with rats could be drawn from the results.