Constant temperature rooms / insectaries

There are a total of 4 constant temperature rooms in the main building to facilitate a wide variety of research with small livestock and other small animals.

The two smallest rooms can be used for small animal research or as insectaries. They each measure 4m × 3m with an adjacent 2m × 3m ‘Airlock’ or separate preparation anteroom area with a large stainless steel bench with sink and storage areas. Additionally, these two rooms are enclosed within a separate lockable corridor, effectively creating two layers of protection and security.

The rooms can be set at a temperature and the cold room panel construction assists in maintaining the temperature to a constant level. The rooms are empty except for a small bench area which allows a flexible setup of cages or pens.

There are also two larger rooms which can maintain temperatures from 18 to 38 degrees Celsius. These rooms have capacity to create negative air pressure, no anteroom, and no working bench as compared to the other smaller rooms. These rooms are regularly used for small animals housed in multiple cages such as rodents and chickens. The rooms also provide a good environment for small pilot studies on medium sized animals such as sheep, goats and pigs. There is a small sink and a large drain with the ground designed to prevent slipping of animals such as sheep and pigs. There are large heater banks, and small vents to easily manipulate the temperature and negative air pressure which prevents anything from exiting the room. Both rooms are the same size with consistent design attributes.

In all four constant control rooms the lights are on a timer system and variable daylight and dark combinations can be selected. These four rooms can be used for a wide variety of research using smaller animals.