Rearing and Colony cages For Mosquitos and other Insects

Mass rearing cage & oviposition cage for colonies of mosquitos and other flying insects — Mass Rearing Cage for Mosquitos and other flying insects

Insect Rearing & Colony Cages for Research and Production. Together with partners, an advanced, space-efficient mass production cage (MPC) for mosquito colonies has been developed. It is able to successfully rear (hundred) thousands of Aedes aegypti and Anopheles arabiensis adult mosquitoes in a mass production set-up. The cage has been developed and designed to minimise handling and the opening of the insect cages during operations such as blood feeding and ovideposit collection. The mosquito cage includes (i) an port for an external blood feeding system (from top), (ii) a self-levelling/refilling, removable sugar feeding system (50 µm mesh size), and (iii) a water sprayer and oviposition paper system located at the bottom of the cage. Males and females pupae can be added to the bottom of the insect cages, and emerging adults have constant access to sugar solution or blood. Similar Anopheles colony cages were e.g. tested for functionality by Balestrino et al. (2014) and Maima et al. (2017). Insect cages for other insect species and purposes (research, ex situ conservation etc.) can be realized.

Mosquito Rearing Cages - Features

Blood feeding system (round or "sausage" type)
Self-refilling sugar feeder (dishwasher save)
Oviposition paper system with water sprayer
Standard and custom cage sizes
Hanging or standing versions
Easy to assemble, net replaceable

Optional

Custom cages without blood feeding system, sugar feeder, oviposition system - for rearing other insect species

Specifications	Mosquito Rearing and Oviposition Cages	OPEN
Mosquito Mass Rearing Cages (MRC) are generally custom made. Three standard mosquito rearing cages have been defined: i) large MRC cage (assembled) are 200 cm x 100 cm x 20 cm (l x h x w). ii) Standard medium MRC Type 1 "IAEA" (100 cm x 100 cm x 10 cm; FAO/IAEA, 2020), and iii) extended medium MRC Type 2 (100 cm x 100 cm x 20 cm; l x h x w). Mosquito / Insect cages of any other dimension (see e.g. an example for a "desktop" cage below) or including other features can be manufactured upon request (please get in contact). They have adjustable rubber feet for placement on the floor, bench or table, and medium/large cages can also be suspended from the ceiling or in a rack system within a colony room, allowing for space and service efficient layout in medium to large production facilities (and reducing ant infestation). Angles if insect rearing cages can be adjusted via adjustable legs or ceiling hooks to facilitate drainage (towards the back). A spraying nozzle system, easily connectable to a standard water hose, can be used to conveniently rinse the insect cage and/or rewet the creped oviposition paper. Crepped paper roles can be attached through openings (on both sides) for convenient routine collection of eggs. Mesh (50µm or custom) is properly sealed but still easy to remove (Velcro) to allow addition of larvae and adjustment of cage mesh size to species / replacement / repair. Versions with magnetic strips or other screen fixation means are feasible. The sugar feeder system (males) for mosquito cages is quick release and dishwasher safe for easy maintenance (from the outside). Blood ports (female) can be round or rectangular, one or many, to match your blood source dimensions ("sausauge" to "baloons") in mosquito rearing cages. The mosquito rearing cages are partially disassembled to ensure a small shipping volume (at lower shpping costs), but can be easily reassembled with a minimum number of screws (e.g. 12 per large MRC).

Customisation	Insect / Mosquito Cages	OPEN
We are happy to fully customize insect rearing / colony cage designs to meet your specific (research) needs, e.g. for plant-insect interaction studies we can replace the top (blood ports) with highly translucent polycarbonate panels - allowing for plant illumination. Please contact us if you would like specific information about the mosquito cage or if you are looking for custom insect rearing mesh cages to suit your specific facility or research program.

References	Insect Cages / Mosquito Cages	OPEN
Allan, D. J. (1971). Two cage designs for insect rearing. New Zealand Entomologist, 5(1), 32-35. Benedict et al. (2009). Colonisation and mass rearing: learning from others. Malaria Journal, 8:S4. Balestrino et al. (2014). Mass production cage for Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae). J Med Entomol, 51. Boller, E. (1972). Behavioral aspects of mass-rearing of insects. Entomophaga, 17(1), 9-25. Byrd, J. H., & Tomberlin, J. K. (2009). Laboratory rearing of forensic insects. In Forensic Entomology (pp. 177-200). CRC Press. Cohen, A. C. (2018). Ecology of insect rearing systems: a mini-review of insect rearing papers from 1906-2017. Advances in Entomology, 6(02), 86. FAO/IAEA. (2020). Guidelines for Mass-Rearing of Aedes Mosquitoes, H. Maiga, W. Mamai, H. Yamada, R. Argilés Herrero and J. Bouyer (eds.). Vienna, Austria. IAEA (2015). Guidelines for standardised mass rearing for Anopheles mosquitoes. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. Janra, M. N., Herwina, H., Rahmayani, H., Rahmawati, L., Sehati, D. P., & Fandesti, S. R. (2020). Defining the rearing cage for Agriocnemis femina damselfly (Odonata, Zygoptera, Coenagrionidae). Jurnal Riset Biologi dan Aplikasinya, 2(2), 42-48. King, E. G., & Hartley, G. G. (2021). Multiple-species insect rearing in support of research. In Advances in insect rearing for research and pest management (pp. 159-172). CRC Press. Maïga, H., et al. & Bouyer, J. (2019). Reducing the cost and assessing the performance of a novel adult mass-rearing cage for the dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika vector, Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus). PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 13(9), e0007775. Mamai et al.. 2017. Optimization of mosquito egg production under mass rearing setting: effects of cage volume, blood meal source and adult population density for the malaria vector, Anopheles arabiensis. Malaria journal 16:41. Sassù, F., Nikolouli, K., Caravantes, S., Taret, G., Pereira, R., Vreysen, M. J., ... & Cáceres, C. (2019). Mass-rearing of Drosophila suzukii for sterile insect technique application: evaluation of two oviposition systems. Insects, 10(12), 448. Smith, R. C. (1931). A Study of Temperature and Humidity Conditions in Common Types of Insect Rearing Cages. Journal of Agricultural Research, 43(6).

Large & Medium-Sized Mosquito Cages / Oviposition Cages

MRC, detail water and draining system, creped paper system for oviposition (front detached))

Mosquito MRC Large, with sugar feeder, front

Small / Desktop Mosquito Cages

Small mosquito cage, one round blood feeding port

Desktop mosquito rearing cage, oviposition paper entry system

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Custom Insect Cages for Research

Custom-made Cages for Insect Research. Various sizes and configurations of insect cages are available to fit your climate chambers / current lab setup, rigid or collapsible, with collection or supply trays, different net colours/screen sizes, etc. "All net" versions or partially with acrylic side panels. Insect cages can hold bottom panels for "sunken" potting holes (with drainage system) and transparent top panels for insect cages with plants - allowing for illumination. Access doors, entry holes for cables, fans, feeders, etc. can be fitted / designed as required by researchers. Contact us to discuss your custom insect cage design, steps to prototyping and production, and pricing. Consider the small insect release cages for insect transport solutions, aliquots.

Research Cage, collapsible, detail collection drawer

Beyond Mosquito Mass Rearing - Multiple Use of Insect Colony Cages

Insect rearing cages, also known as insect colony cages or oviposition cages, are typically used in research facilities to house and study flying insects in a controlled environment. They are specifically designed to provide a safe, secure and standardized habitat for insect colonies while allowing researchers to observe and manipulate the insects as needed and/or harvest egg deposits. Continue reading

As a result, many specific insect cage designs have been developed and used for different species. Here we describe some common uses for insect rearing cages beyond the mosquito mass rearing tasks described above:

Insect Behavior: Insect cages can be used to observe and record insect behavior, such as mating rituals, feeding patterns, and communication. Plants can be placed in (large) cages with translucent top panels to observe pollination and flower selection, herbivory etc.
Experimentation with insects: Researchers can use insect rearing boxes to conduct experiments on the effects of various factors such as temperature, humidity, light and food, plants or predators on insect growth, development and behavior.
Breeding Insects: In addition to rearing insects, insect cages can be used to breed insects for research purposes, such as studying the genetics or physiology of insect populations.
Entomological Environmental Monitoring: Insect cages can be used to test the side effects of herbicides and other environmental pollutants on insects. Similarly, the effectiveness of insecticides on insect populations can be tested.

Overall, insect rearing cages are an essential tool for entomologists and ecologists studying intra- and interpecific insect-insect, and insect-plant interactions, allowing researchers to create controlled environments in which to study and manipulate insect behavior and physiology. Consider our insect aspirator for controlled collection/transfer of flying insects between rearing cages.

For insect release and transportation tasks, consider our custom, modular insect release cages.

Mosquito Tray and Rack Systems, collection process

Rearing Cages are frequently used in Mass Rearing facilities to produce the eggs for Mosquito Tray and Rack Mass Rearing Systems.

To measure the CO2 and O2 exchange, consider the Insect Respirometry Package - (micro-)chambers and software included.

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