That’s for a pet. While labs have huge economies of scale—-I worked somewhere with a quarter million mice—-the mice aren’t just random field mice. Some of the

That’s for a pet. While labs have huge economies of scale—-I worked somewhere with a quarter million mice—-the mice aren’t just random field mice. Some of the genetically engineered ones are hundreds of dollars a pair (and possibly more if custom, raised under unusual conditions, etc). Xenografts need skilled labor and very clean conditions for the immunocompromised mice. $1000 seems a little high, but not much, especially if the work isn’t being done by an underpaid grad student.