Isolation and Containment

In many ways, cubicles are no different than holding rooms and as such are subject to some of the same architectural and engineering design criteria. They must be ventilated to the same standards as traditional holding rooms and they must adhere to the same temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions so that the proper environment to house research animals is maintained. In many facilities, there is the need for housing a small number of a particular species and the need to separate them from other animals in the facility. Cubicles gain their advantages over holding rooms due to their size. Cubicle sizes have developed over the years in response to the sizes of racks and caging that are placed in them. For the most part, cubicles range in depth from four to eight feet and in width from six to eight feet although there is no “standard” dimension for them.

Cubicles are often grouped together inside of a typical holding room with the space around the cubicles acting as an anteroom to the corridor. Rooms with two to six cubicles are common, but larger rooms are not an isolated occurrence. By operating the cubicles in either positive or negative pressure to the anteroom, one can create areas of either isolation or containment.

A basic application for cubicles would be the housing of multiple species. Especially in academic settings, research needs can be varied, with the facility management often not knowing what species are going to be required. Having a room with cubicles allows for the occasional housing of a rack of rabbits, guinea pigs, or other species that may not be as common to a facility as mice or rats. In these cases, the biggest concerns are ensuring that odors do not cross over from one cubicle to the next and ensuring that the environmental parameters can be controlled within the cubicle to meet the needs of the species - as if they were in independent holding rooms. Cubicles have the ability to house animals not only in cages and racks but on the floor with bedding, such as for pigs.

In another case, the cubicles may be required to house animals that are of questionable health status. Cubicles can be a solution to holding incoming shipments of animals in a quarantine environment. Once the animals have been health checked and approved, they are transferred into their assigned holding rooms.