I Found A Bat...

I found it sitting in the concrete hallway between apartments when I was on my way home Saturday. I scooped it into a box (no direct contact, don't worry) and kept it overnight. I tried contacting the local bat rehabber but she never got back to me. However, Sunday night it was much more active than it had been Saturday and it had drunk from its water dish, so I decided to try releasing it. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, off it flew! It was a Mexican freetailed, which is a species that can't take off from ground level, so I think it probably just got grounded in the hallway and didn't have anywhere to climb up so it could take off again. It didn't show any signs of rabies or cat attack or anything, the little guy seemed pretty healthy .

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed having such close contact with this little creature, bats have been my absolute fave animals since 4th grade. I don't currently have the facilities to rehabilitate bats, but I think I will try volunteering at the local bat lab, or try to become a subpermittee so I could at least care for orphans until they are ready to start learning to fly and catching their own insects. There's also a bat rehabilitation boot camp next summer that looks like fun . Gotta get my rabies vaccine first!

The night I found it, checking it over for signs of injury




Just prior to release


Happy camper

Wow, that is VERY cool! And very cool of you to take care of the lil fella, or gal hehe
I dunno if I'd ever want to have a close encounter with a bat like you, but I don't mind throwing them some bread crumbs when I spot them outside lol... not sure if they eat bread though hehe
I think it's so interesting watching them fly and how they know exactly where to go when we throw up the food to them.

Hehe no, they do not eat bread crumbs, but it is sweet of you to try to feed them
Out of the 45 species of bats in the US, one is a fruit eater, two are nectar eaters, and all the rest are insectivorous. The bats you throw crumbs at are probably swooping at them in hopes they are bugs

Synirr said:

Hehe no, they do not eat bread crumbs, but it is sweet of you to try to feed them
Out of the 45 species of bats in the US, one is a fruit eater, two are nectar eaters, and all the rest are insectivorous. The bats you throw crumbs at are probably swooping at them in hopes they are bugs

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Bats rock! We always want them in our yard in FL, bats, nighthawks, and frogs. Best mosquito control ever. They are not common, though, I've only seen them on occasion. People in Miami freak and consider them pests, not realizing how beneficial they are. I hope they reside in my little attic space in my house. That would be sweet.

Be careful, though. Just because a bat doesn't show signs of a disease doesn't mean that it isn't a carrier. I hope you used heavy leather gloves to pick up the animal and kept it separated from your little ones. I'm sure you did, but my internship at Miami Metro Zoo is kicking in and I'm always thinking safety. I'm the one that scoops up floundering possums and other critters from the pool and I've got a pair of huge, thick leather gloves just for that purpose, and a yard tool that I use as a modified snake tong.

Congratulations on your Steve Erwin moment. It sounded like loads of fun.

llj

Urwin. LOL

Underwurlde said:

Urwin. LOL

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Irwin!!!!!!

about 10 years ago, i reared two orphan baby fruit bats (flying foxes), that were rescued after the massive bushfires in Kyogle. They were so lovely, but very work intensive (had to be groomed and have wings 'oiled' every day to prevent dry skin, and fed 6 times per day, then weaned onto fresh fruit, etc etc.) i named them Bram and Stoker, and when they were old enough they were released into a colony that's local to me. (just like where you are, you need a permit here to rear them). Everything about them was wonderful, especially the way they hung from their wing hooks right way up to pee- looked just like little wrinkly old men!! man, was their poo stinky though....peeeeuuuwww!!

congrats on your croc hunter encounter, glad to hear the little tyke was ok. funny how something like this makes you pay heaps more attention to local wildlife!

Very interesting experience you have had, Synirr.

I haven't seen a bat in many years. I used to watch them in the parks, when I lived out west and went camping. They would gather around the lights at the restrooms to catch moths that were attracted by them. Once the campfire died down, about all there was left to do was watch the bats.

What a life that was!

merry78 said:

Underwurlde said:

Urwin. LOL

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Irwin!!!!!!

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You guys are too funny.

Yeah lljdma06, I used gloves AND handled it through an old washcloth. It never made any attempt to bite anyway, it was a sweety .
Bats are not typically considered asymptomatic carriers of rabies virus like skunks and raccoons can sometimes be, so really if a bat is rabid and contagious, you should see at least the beginning of some symptoms within 24 hours. You should NEVER directly handle a bat anyway, of course, because rabies is extremely deadly and not something to take a chance on. An animal is typically most capable of spreading rabies once it becomes symptomatic, because it is only in the advanced stages that the virus moves to the salivary glands and elsewhere; before that time it stays concentrated in the brain. This is not true of asymptomatic carriers though, of course, who are simply uneffected by the virus.
Opossums have a natural resistence to rabies and only rarely contract it

I haven't seen you in ages, Inchworm!

Synirr said:

I haven't seen you in ages, Inchworm!

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I see her all the time. She is mostly occupied with crazy corydora people, poor thing. They require a lot of attention. It is nice to see that they have behaved long enough for her to venture outside...

llj

Haha, oh, is that what is going on??

Orwin

LOL

Arwin!

pica_nuttalli said:

Arwin!
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We've got tons of Fruit bats in one of our local bus interchange here.
Before I moved I usually took bus there and alot would fly around.
I think they are cool.