I am just getting started with Filemaker, and need to keep track of mice in our mouse colony. I assume I need a mouse database (each mouse), and a cage database (many mice per cage) but we have several types of cages (breeding pairs have one male and one female; stock cages may have 5 males or females, stud cages with one male and occasional visiting females) and we sometimes move mice from one type to another. Should each cage type be a separate database? Suggestions to get me started?

Unless you have another reason to track cages separately, I would start with 1 file of cages and a related file of mice (meeses? mouses? mices?)... or maybe let the cat keep track of them for you...

Create a paper-based system FIRST -- it need not be too pretty or elaborate. This will then help you design a database system.

Vaughan's advice is good. For me, the key question is always, what is it that you want the database to tell you? I.e. what reports will you want to generate? Figure that out, and work back from there.

For example:

- If all you care about is where a given mouse is, then you wouldn't necessarily need a cages file. A cage field in the mouse file would be sufficient.

- If you need to keep a history of when each mouse was moved, you may need a separate "log" file for that.

- If you're going to track the parents and children, you may end up with a more complex system then you bargained for.