How To Become An Animal Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is an animal technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Chase Runyan

Are you a person who loves working with animals? If so, then this is the job for you. Animal technicians provide daily care for research animals of various species. They clean and disinfect cages and equipment. Furthermore, they are responsible for monitoring the animals' health and well-being, maintaining logs of animal diets, behavior, vital signs, and other related data.

Key responsibilities include ensuring a high level of animal welfare and improving the quality of life for laboratory animals, feeding animals, handling and moving animals safely, administering medicines, obtaining samples and measurements, and collecting and recording data, among others. A high school diploma or a G.E.D is the minimum requirement, although a bachelor's in animal behavior and management, biology, pharmacology, and other related fields may prove beneficial.

Certifications and vocational training are also available for the position. Employers do require a person who has a genuine interest in animal care. The position comes along with more than being surrounded by animals all day long. The average salary for an animal technician is $14.86 per hour. This estimates to over $30,000 a year. In addition, the job market is likely to grow 19% in the coming years.

What's a day at work look like for an animal technician?

Dr. Chase Runyan

Associate Professor, Department Chair, Director of MIR/Research Scientist, Angelo State University

Because agriculture industries are so diverse in their nature, it is nearly impossible to gauge what a work day might look like.

ScoreAnimal TechnicianUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,378

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.7

Growth rate 20%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.27%

Asian 2.06%

Black or African American 2.66%

Hispanic or Latino 10.86%

Unknown 6.84%

White 77.31%

Gender

female 55.19%

male 44.81%

Age - 31

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 31

Stress level

9.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.9

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an animal technician

Explore animal technician education requirements

Most common animal technician degrees

Bachelor's

52.3 %

Associate

19.2 %

High School Diploma

17.4 %

Start to develop specific animal technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Animal Handling	7.35%
Autoclaves	7.28%
Euthanasia	6.22%
Laboratory Animal Care	4.05%
Technical Procedures	4.01%

Complete relevant animal technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New animal technicians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an animal technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real animal technician resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming an licensed animal technician usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed animal technician in most of states. 30 states require animal technicians to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Veterinarian Technician
Kansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Veterinary Technicians
Kentucky	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Veterinary Technologist/Technician
Alaska	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Veterinary Technician
Arkansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Veterinary Technician

Gain additional animal technician certifications

Animal technician certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific animal technician certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for animal technicians include Laboratory Animal Technician (LAT) and Laboratory Animal Technologist (LATG).

More About Certifications

Research animal technician duties and responsibilities

Maintain all necessary paperwork for specific species as required by the USDA, IACUC, as well as other agencies.
Maintain the cleanliness and organization of all animal facility locations.
Stock shelves with personal protection equipment (PPE).
Learned all PPE policies for different areas of the vivarium.

Prepare your animal technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your animal technician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an animal technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable animal technician resume templates

Build a professional animal technician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your animal technician resume.