Measurement of drinking behavior in laboratory animals is an often utilized method in many areas of scientific research, including the study of ingestive behaviors and addictions. We have designed a system that measures drinking by continuously tracking fluid-filled bottle weights with load cells and calculating change in fluid weight per drinking bout. The load cells serve both as a contact sensor that detects mouse-spout contact, as well as a monitor of fluid weight change per contact bout. The design described here fulfills several key criteria, including automated and continuous recording of drinking in the home-cage, automated control of liquid access, and inexpensive/reproducible fabrication. These features may allow researchers to generate high-resolution, detailed information on drinking behavior in high-throughput experimental designs. Here, we provide an overview of the design and present results from tests to validate the system. C57BL/6J mice were offered water and ethanol concurrently, using this system. Consumption weights were determined by the system and independently by conventional approaches. The results indicated a near-perfect correlation between the two methods, indicating the system returned valid consumption weights. This system functions as a valid drinking monitor that provides temporally precise data with a low cost design.
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