Why are rats and mice so prone to getting various tumors? Is their (average pet store mouse or rat) gene pool really shallow? Is it some kind of “Founder Effect” going on?
Some factors:
They are supposed to not live very long in the wild. Raising them as pets prolongs their lifespans and it’s likely to happen in older animals.
In my experience, and IIRC according to a vet, females are more prone to tumors than males.
Note that these tumors are often benign, and don’t require treatment unless they interfere with locomotion.
I don’t know that particular strain but there are others, e.g. Lewis, and most are white/albino. Pet rats are sometimes white but more often not. So there’s little confusing the two, andPet mice might be white.
And of course, pet mice are unlike to cost $275…
The leading cause of cancer in lab rats is research 