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Per-Diem Cost Calculator.

Project mouse colony per-diem costs across multiple cohorts and cage types. Institution-aware rate defaults, monthly burn rate, and cost-per-data-point — exportable to CSV.

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Validated2026-04-06
CitableMethods and citation included

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Load example per-diem cost calculator data to see the full workflow

Institution Type

Default range for academic: $0.85 – $1.50 per cage per day. Override individual rates below.

Cage Lines

LabelCage typeCagesRate $/day

Study Parameters

Optional Multipliers

Cost Summary

Total cost
$4,248
40 cages
Monthly burn
$1,437
USD / month
Cost / animal
$21
lifetime cost
Cost / data point
$35
per cohort animal

Per-Line Breakdown

LabelTypeCagesRateEffectiveRow cost
Active studyStandard40$1.18$1.18$4,248

When to use

  • Building a study budget for an internal review or funding application
  • Comparing the cost of two study designs (e.g. n=50 for 90 days vs n=100 for 60 days)
  • Projecting burn rate for an active multi-cohort study
  • Sanity-checking a quote from a contract research vivarium
  • Estimating cost-per-data-point for a publication or grant Specific Aim

Do not use for

  • As an institutional billing record — finalize with the facility's actual rate card
  • For non-cage costs (procedures, drugs, surgical supplies) — combine with a separate procedure budget
  • When cohort size and study length are still uncertain — explore the design first with a sample-size calculator

The midpoint default is conservative for most institutions

The institution defaults are population midpoints. Most academic vivariums sit closer to the low end (0.85–0.85–1.10) and most GLP facilities cluster near the high end (4.50–4.50–6.00). When in doubt, query your rate card and override.

Breeders need a separate line

Breeding cage rates are often higher than experimental cage rates because of larger cage size and more frequent cage changes. Splitting breeders into their own line in the calculator surfaces this and prevents undercounting the maintenance cost of in-house colonies.

Don't blend pilot and full-study costs

A 14-day pilot at full per-diem rate looks cheap until you scale it 6× for a full study. Run the calculator twice — once for the pilot, once for the projected full study — and present both numbers in any budget document.

Holiday multipliers rarely apply to per-diem

Most facilities bill a flat daily rate regardless of day-of-week. The weekend / holiday multipliers exist for facilities that itemize after-hours husbandry as a separate line — set both to 1 if your rate card does not.

1

Method

Total cost = Σ(cages ×\times rate ×\times days ×\times daily_multiplier). Daily multiplier blends weekday (5/7), weekend (2/7 ×\times weekend_multiplier), and holiday share (holiday_days / total ×\times holiday_multiplier, removed from the weekday share). Monthly burn = (total / days) ×\times 30.4375. Cost-per-animal and cost-per-data-point are direct ratios.

2

Validated

Last validated 2026-04-06. Calculations are designed for planning and documentation support; verify procurement decisions against manufacturer specifications or institutional SOPs.

3

How to cite

How to Cite

ConductScience Per-Diem Cost Calculator (v0.85.0). ConductScience, Inc. 2026. Available at: https://conductscience.com/tools/per-diem-cost-calculator

NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs. Per Diem Rates Survey for Animal Research Facilities. NIH ORIP; 2023.

National Research Council. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals: Eighth Edition. National Academies Press; 2011.

Why Per-Diem Costs Drive Animal Study Budgets

Per-diem cage charges are usually the single biggest line in a rodent study budget — typically 40–60% of total animal costs for a study of more than 60 days. Reagent costs, surgical fees, and pathology are usually fixed; per-diem scales linearly with cohort size and study length.

Two consequences for budgeting:

  • Long studies are exponentially more expensive than the cohort math suggests once you factor in 365-day per-diem accumulation
  • Cohort size has compound impact — doubling n doubles both the cage line and the per-diem days, not just the headcount

A cost calculator that exposes both the total and the monthly burn lets you front-load conversations about study design before IRB submission.

Institutional Rate Card Benchmarks

Per-diem rates vary by institution type and species:

  • Academic vivariums: 0.85–0.85–1.50/cage/day for mice, often subsidized by indirect cost recovery
  • Biotech / industry: 1.50–1.50–3.50/cage/day, fully loaded with overhead
  • GLP / contract research: 3.00–3.00–6.00/cage/day, includes full GLP documentation, dedicated staff, and audit-ready records
  • Specialty housing: BSL-2/3 containment, gnotobiotic, or barrier rooms can add 50–200% to the base rate

Always confirm the actual rate card with your animal facility before submitting a budget — published surveys lag the market by 1–2 years.

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Next steps

App

ConductColony — auto-calculate per-diem from your live cage count

Stop re-typing cage counts every month. ConductColony pulls live census and bills per-diem automatically.

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