FAQs

Visit our Tutorials page to get started.

The strain will often be the top level directory of your colony.

In Tails, a strain refers to a collection of animals who share a set of characteristics. As such, it is not a physical entity. This could also be referred to as a lineage or mouse-line, but is you can structure it as you please.

You can create strains whenever you would like to segment a subset of animals into distinct classes or groups. This does not necessarily necessitate a clear genetic separation. You may only have one strain, or dozens.

Each strain is associated with a single species and will be attributed individual settings options.

Tap on the + button on the top right corner of the Weaned or Breeding tab. 

Select a Species and give your strain a Common name. The common name will be referenced throughout the app. We recommend you keep it simple and differentiate it from the Scientific name for readability. For example, the C57BL/6-Tg(Csf1r-cre)1Mnz/J line is commonly referred as Csfr1-cre for simplicity. You can also give it the CS1 code, which will be used to refer to the strain in certain occasions.

Select the strain’s Origin. It could have been purchased (in which case optionally indicate the vendor and stock number), could have been produced in house, or be a cross from your existing strains.

Assign Colors to your strain for quick identification.

Indicate whether you’re allowing cage consolidations to be proposed for this strain.

Indicate whether you’d like an alert message to be shown for animals of this strain that are housed by themselves.

Indicate whether you’d like to set an age ceiling for animals of this strain, after which those will be marked as such.

Indicate whether this strain will be used for breeding.

If breeding, select the age at which pups of this strain should be weaned.

If breeding, optionally select the age at which sires and dams become too old to breed.

If breeding, optionally select the number of filial generations after which the strain should be backcrossed to prevent genetic drifts.

If breeding, select how long breeders can go without producing any offsprings before the breeding is marked as sterile.

If weaning animals:

Select the pups that will be moved into this new cage.

Then tap on + the top right corner of your current Litter directory.

Otherwise:

Tap on the + button on the top right corner of your current Strain directory. 

If animals were not preselected, use the Stepper to indicate the number of animals being created alongside this cage. Fill in the animal’s information in the second page of this form (read below regarding How do I create an animal?)

Select or edit the Strain.

The Cage type and Name (if automatic cage naming is on) will automatically be filled.

Scan your Cage card ID, or manually input the value in the textfield.

Either the cage name or cage card ID need to be present.

If adding a Location, select either or all of the Room, the Rack, and the Coordinates.

If adding a Special Feed, select from the dropdown or add one.

Tap on the + button on the top right corner of your current Strain directory. 

Select or edit the Strain.

The Cage type and Name (if automatic cage naming is on) will automatically be filled.

Scan your Cage card ID, or manually input the value in the textfield.

Either the cage name or cage card ID need to be present.

If adding a Location, select either or all of the Room, the Rack, and the Coordinates.

If adding a Special Feed, select from the dropdown or add one.

Optionally, add the Breeders, by following the Mating page. They could also be added later.

You can use the Estimate page to evaluate your breeding needs.

Tap on the + button on the top right corner of your current Cage, Breeding, or Litter directory. 

If adding more than one animal with identical characteristics, use the Stepper to increase the count.

When adding pups, most information will be pre-filled. Carefully review and add the animals.

Edit the Date of birth.

Select the animal’s Sex (pups can have undefined sex).

Select a Genotype, suggestions will be provided, if applicable.

Select a Parent, this refers to the cage the animal originated from, if applicable.

Select a Generation, keeping track of both filial and/or backcross, if applicable.

Select a Coat Color, if applicable.

Add Labels to the animal (see below).

Add Identifications to the animal (see below).

Add Vet Cases to the animal (see below).

Assign an Experiment to the animal (see below).

Add Procedures to the animal (see below).

Add Biopsies to the animal (see below).

Tap on the + button on the top right corner of your current Breeding directory. 

Input the litter’s Date of birth. If you’re unsure about the animal’s age, use the Help function.

If you’d like Pups to be automatically added to this litter, input the number of pups for each sex category.

Learn more here.

When adding or editing animals, the + Label button will appear, simply select from the dropdown menu or create a new label. See How do I edit multiple animals at once? if you’d like to assign the same label to several animals. 

You may also automatically assign labels based on a Rule. Go to your Settings page > Labels to create a rule.

Visit the Identification page to learn more.

Go to the animal in question, click Edit, and tap on the Vet case card at the bottom. See How do I edit multiple animals at once? if you’d like to assign the same vet case to several animals. 

Indicate the Condition of the animal, as well as any Recommended treatment.

You can reuse a previous template to avoid refilling the information manually.

Add any picture or documentation relating to this case using the Attachment button.

Go to the animal in question, click Edit, and tap on the Procedure card at the bottom. See How do I edit multiple animals at once? if you’d like to assign the same procedure to several animals. 

Indicate the Name of the procedure, as well as any Details describing the procedure.

You can reuse a previous template to avoid refilling the information manually.

If you used any Anaesthetic during this procedure, select from the dropdown or create a new one.

If you used any Analgesics during this procedure, select from the dropdown or create a new one.

If you’d like to report other Miscellaneous elements used during this procedure (eye lubricant, clips…), select from the dropdown or create a new one.

If you will be providing Follow-up care (analgesics, antibiotics, drugs…), select from the dropdown or create a new one, and add the timing of this follow-up.

Go to the animal in question, click Edit, and tap on the Biopsy card at the bottom. See How do I edit multiple animals at once? if you’d like to report the same biopsy to several animals. 

Indicate the Tissue sampled by selecting from the dropdown menu.

Indicate when the biopsy was performed.

Go to the animal in question, click Edit, and tap on the Body Weight card at the bottom.

Select the New weight record button and enter the recording value and timing.

Instead of inputting body weight records one by one, you can upload a whole dataset, learn more here.

Go to the animal in question, click Edit, and tap on the Experiment card at the bottom. See How do I edit multiple animals at once? if you’d like to assign the same experiment to several animals. 

From the list, select the Experiment you’d like to assign. 

If multiple Cohorts were created for this experiment, select the cohort.

You can play on the ? button to reveal the experiment’s detail page.

Go to the animal in question, click Edit, and tap on the Experiment card at the bottom. See How do I edit multiple animals at once? if you’d like to assign the same experiment to several animals. 

Tap the + button on the top right corner.

Indicate the experiment’s ID, as well as it’s Starting date.

Add Cohorts and Events to this experiment.

Tails does not provide experimental design functions. The experiment assignment function is meant as a means of maintaining colony records, tracking animal availability, and providing statistics on experimental usage.

Use the Select button on the top right corner of your current directory. Then tap on the desired animals.

Once all animals are selected, tap the … button on the top of the page.

If a field was updated, a double arrow circle will appear on that row and the Update all button will become activated.

Unlike editing single animals, you will need to confirm your edit using the Update all button to proceed.

Using the Multiple animal edit function (described above), you may select a subset of animals and move those into a new cage.

Click on the … button at the bottom of the multiple edit page and select the New Cage button to make the split.

Using the Multiple animal edit function (described above), you may select a subset of animals and move those into a new breeding cage.

Click on the … button at the bottom of the multiple edit page and select the New Breeding button to make the split and turn those animals into breeders.

Yes. You can download your colony by visiting your app’s Settings page > Downloads.

Several options are offered. You can download your colony in the CSV or JSON format. The JSON file will contain more information, but will not be usable in common spreadsheet softwares.

Your logs, vet cases, and procedures are available for download for record keeping.

You can also download your colony as a TAILS file. Those act as backup files, taking a snapshot of your colony at the time of their download. You will not be able to open them.

Yes. Visit our Upload your Colony tutorial to learn more.

Yes. Visit our Upload your Genotype Results tutorial to learn more.