UID builds three home-cage monitoring systems — from single-cage temperature readers to full-plate activity + temperature platforms. Compare capabilities, calculate ROI, and find the one that fits your study.
Jump to ROI Calculator
Traditional vivarium monitoring relies on daily manual cage checks — a human opening cages, lifting animals, logging observations. It's labor-intensive, introduces experimenter bias, stresses the animals, and only catches health events at the moment of the check.
Home cage monitoring replaces those checks with continuous, non-invasive instrumentation. Individual animal IDs, body temperatures, and activity patterns stream automatically from inside the cage, 24/7, with time-stamped objectivity. The outcome: earlier detection of welfare events, cleaner data, and dramatically less tech labor.
Different research questions call for different data streams. Here's how to decide.
Not sure? Use the ROI calculator below — it recommends a product based on your study design.
Estimate the labor savings of replacing manual cage checks with continuous home-cage monitoring. Adjust the inputs and see results update live.
Estimates only. Actual savings depend on study design, facility protocols, and labor structure. Contact UID for a deployment-specific assessment.
Single-cage temperature monitoring for small-scale studies. USB-connected, magnetic or clip mount, up to 8 readers per PC. Temperature ✓ · Activity ✗
Rack-scale continuous temperature monitoring for cohorts of 96+ animals. Controller-based, local or cloud via VivoTraq. Temperature ✓ · Activity ✗
Full activity + physiological platform. Temperature, locomotor activity, and zone tracking per individual animal at 100–250 ms resolution. Temperature ✓ · Activity ✓
| Feature | AnyCage Lite Temperature · single cage | AnyCage+ Temperature · rack-scale | Mouse Matrix Temperature + activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monitors | Temperature | Temperature | Temperature + Activity + Location |
| Ideal for | Single cages, small studies | Rack-scale, large cohorts | Detailed activity and physiological data |
| Scalability | Up to 8 cages | Up to 96 cages per system | Up to 48 plates per system |
| Animals tracked | Individual or group-housed up to 5/cage | Individual or group-housed up to 5/cage | Individual or group-housed up to 5/cage |
| Monitoring rate | Continuous (if connected to PC) | Continuous | Continuous w/ ea. zone scanned every 100–250 ms |
| Mount | Magnetic or clip mount | Magnetic or clip mount | Plate under cage |
| Connectivity | USB + PC | Controller, Hubs, Readers | Controller, PoE switch, PC |
| Temp accuracy | ±0.1°C (30–46°C) | ±0.1°C (30–46°C) | ±0.1°C (30–46°C) |
| Activity tracking |  | |  |
| Zone / spatial tracking | | | |
| Microchip | UID UCT-2112 | UID UCT-2112 | UID UCT-2112 |
Continuous, automated measurement of animals inside the cage they live in, with no handling. UID systems read an implanted UCT-2112 microchip to record each animal's ID and body temperature, and Mouse Matrix adds locomotor activity and zone location, 24 hours a day including the dark phase.
It supports refinement. Continuous in-cage readings replace repeated handling and restraint for temperature checks, and the time-stamped per-animal record supports IACUC welfare documentation.
Pick by scale and data stream. AnyCage Lite covers up to 8 cages over USB for temperature only. AnyCage+ covers up to 96 cages per system for temperature at rack scale. Mouse Matrix adds activity and zone location for detailed behavioral and physiological data.
Yes. All three track individuals by microchip ID in cages of up to five animals, so social groups stay intact and animals do not need to be single-housed to be told apart.
All three read the UID UCT-2112 temperature-sensing microchip, accurate to ±0.1 °C across 30–46 °C. One implant serves handheld scans and in-cage monitoring, so animals do not need a new chip to move between systems.
Yes. RFID reads do not need a light source, so data collection continues through lights-off, when rodents are most active.
It depends on the study. Use the ROI calculator on this page, which estimates labor savings from your own cage count, check frequency, and hourly rate.
Tell us about your study and we'll help you scope the right configuration.
