Ph Report

Effects of a restricted diet.

by Jon McLaughlin & Steven Soltesz
November 30, 1999

Ren

Stimpy

Materials

2 white mice
2 cages/containers
basic food supply
lettuce
peanut butter
1 exercise wheel
1 bag of hamster bedding
4 small plastic containers

Data Collected

To see the chart displaying the weights of the mice. Click here.

We started out this project believing that the mouse fed the lettuce, would lose a great amount of weight, become less active, and that the mouse fed the peanut butter would gain a lot of weight, and become more active than normal.

During the experiment however, it become apparent that the results were not going to be as expected.

Ren, the mouse that was supposed to lose weight and become less active, actually gained weight and displayed no noticeable loss of energy. Stimpy, the mouse supposed to gain weight & become more active did gain weight, but appeared to become less active as the experiment went on.

Possible reasons for these results could be that during the experiment Stimpy became ill, at one point we predicted that he would die.

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Hypothesis:

A mouse on a protein diet will demonstrate more active lifestyle as well as gain a larger mass than compared to a mouse on a protein restricted diet.

Procedure

Ren & Stimpy were kept in separate cages so that they wouldn't steal each others food. Ren, the smaller mouse, was feed a diet that lacked the large amount of protein. Stimpy, the larger mouse, was feed peanut butter, very high in protein. Then, to track the progress of the two mice, every other day, the two mice were weighed on a scale, and let run around to show activity levels.