TOTALLY off-topic--bat rescue in progress

mvhplank · Post by **mvhplank** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 3:13 pm

Our old office in Frederick, MD, occasionally has bats down in the office area (they live in the attic, it seems). I have one even as I type (4:12 p.m., EST) in a cardboard box behind me, scritching away, trying to get out.

I'm very fond of bats and I want to take it home and release it there (out in the country near water) but wonder if it will be able to find shelter.

Are there any naturalists out there who can offer some advice and reassurance?

M

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 3:23 pm

Don't touch the bat with your bare hands. I doubt that this is a good time to try to relocate a bat, it's so cold and no food around. I would wait till dusk and release the bat where you found it (outside, of course). To attract bats to your house/barn/trees, get some bat droppings (available in country hardware stores, along with bat houses, and in gift shops, if you'll believe it).

Good luck.

mvhplank · Post by **mvhplank** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 3:25 pm

That sounds like a plan, since it presumably is familiar with this area. And dusk is about the time I leave here.

And no, no one here touches bats with their bare hands. We employed a plastic bag, thinking at first that it was dead, since it was on the floor. We think now that it was trying to squeeze under the door to the outside.

Thanks!

Kendahl · Post by **Kendahl** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 3:34 pm

I would suggest you contact your local wildlife rescue organization. There will be someone there who has a license for wildlife rehab, who has a further license for rabies vector species, and the knowledge of how to assess the animal's health and ability to survive.

Thanks for not bat-bashing! They're wonderful, helpful, fascinating animals.

mvhplank · Post by **mvhplank** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 3:45 pm

On 2003-01-27 16:34, Kendahl wrote:
I would suggest you contact your local wildlife rescue organization. There will be someone there who has a license for wildlife rehab, who has a further license for rabies vector species, and the knowledge of how to assess the animal's health and ability to survive.

Thanks for not bat-bashing! They're wonderful, helpful, fascinating animals.

The little guy doesn't seem to need rehabiliting, just the chance to hang out in a more appropriate environment than this office. (He/she is still skritching away in the box.)

You're right, bats are fascinating! I get lots of odd little critters around home, including bats from time to time.

M

PS--a friend gave me a sheet of commemorative bat postage stamps for Christmas and I can't bear to use them.

spittin_in_the_wind · Post by **spittin_in_the_wind** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 3:46 pm

I think it's odd that it is out and about now--they should be hibernating at this time of year, unless it's a lot warmer down there than it is here. There aren't any insects for them to eat, so I would expect that they would hibernate in your area, too. This makes me think "sick bat"; I agree, call a wildlife specialist and get it assessed. Even if nobody got scratched or bitten, better safe than sorry.

Robin

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 4:09 pm

I agree with what others have said...contact a wildlife rehabber. This is an odd time for bats to be out and about (especially during the day), and my inclination would be to assume the little guy is sick too.

Even if it's healthy, it wouldn't do well released so far from home. Bats are social creatures...they live in colonies...and it's going to want to be with its friends and family (in fact, if it's a female, it may even have pups that need it).

Thanks for looking after the little one. I love bats...they're fascinating creatures!

Redwolf

mvhplank · Post by **mvhplank** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 8:35 pm

Well, the poor little creature remained lively until time for me to go home, so we took the cardboard box it was in and put it in our little back yard at work. It was looking around as we left.

I think you were right that it should stay in a familiar area, so my hope is that it returned to whatever outside entrance they've found to our attic.

As I said, we do occasionally get bats in the office areas, and I'm not so sure that they're sick but have just chosen the wrong exit. If we don't find them soon enough, they do die. Even if we spot them, it's hard to extract them from the old-fashioned high ceilings. (We're in what was once the Frederick home of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney of the Dred Scott decision.)

They also play hob with the motion-detecting alarm system, as you might imagine.

For future reference, I'll try to find a wildlife rehabilitator and ask his (or her) advice.

But gosh, aren't they cute!

M

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 10:16 pm

OT on OT: one of the most famous
and important philosophy articles
of the 70s was entitled 'What
is it like to be a Bat?'

A fellow I knew in college had
a pet flying squirrel. Man was
that neat! Somewhere along the
evolutionary line to bats.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 10:42 pm

A couple of bat items:

I remember reading in a wildlife magazine years ago an article by a writer who had a pet bat. The bat was nocturnal and the writer diurnal. The bat liked the writer and so to be close to him, would sleep hanging from the writer's shirt pocket while he typed (the writer typed; the bat slept).

Possibly in the same article, I read about a bat researcher who had several species of bat for pets. He had in the same cage, one of a social species and one of a solitary species. It seems there was a time when the solitary one was sick, and the social one sensed this and wanted to do the natural thing, which was to cosy up next to him and wrap his wing around him. However, the solitary one would have no part of this and kept edging further and further towards the end of the hanging bar in the cage while the social bat kept edging closer and closer. I don't remember reading how this turned out.

Best wishes,
Jerry

P.S. You gotta love an animal that can eat its weight in mosquitoes.

SeraFin · Post by **SeraFin** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 3:30 am

Hope the little fella's doing well

they are lovely little critters.. I know here in Seattle its quite natural for the bats to be out and about.. even our plants are budding with this casual winter we're having.. its like a cool spring... fleas didnt get to die off, mosquitoe's either, it seems.. i dont think its unusual for a bat to get a little misguided in its wanderings.. they dont have a problem with being about people and cities.. there are bats galore living in the parking garages of a bellevue mall just across the lake.

tinker · Post by **tinker** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 4:07 am

On 2003-01-28 04:30, SeraFin wrote:
... there are bats galore living in the parking garages of a bellevue mall just across the lake.

Heh, I've been to that mall quite a few times... I never realized that.

- Ben

SeraFin · Post by **SeraFin** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 5:20 am

yeah, the one downtown bellevue.. if you go there in the evening, when the roads quiet (aka after say 10 pm

) you can hear them screeking about.. i used to live down there and shop at that qfc, heard and saw them often..

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 9:33 am

They're active here now too, but our winters are much milder...didn't the east coast just get hit with a major cold wave? Most bats over there should still be hybernating.

They are just the cutest little things and, as someone else said, you gotta love a critter that eats its weight in mosquitos!

Redwolf

herbivore12 · Post by **herbivore12** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 11:11 pm

On 2003-01-27 23:16, jim stone wrote:
OT on OT: one of the most famous
and important philosophy articles
of the 70s was entitled 'What
is it like to be a Bat?'

Ah, the old mind/body problem; I really dug Nagel's paper back when I was studying the philosophy of mind. A great analogy the guy chose.

Anyway: in future, it's probably best to bring bats found at this time of year to a rehab center, although you probably did this particular bat a good service in simply releasing it in familiar territory.

Not all bats hibernate, and some can withstand pretty low temps, especially around cities. Other species migrate, etc. A good reference for you infuture is this one:

http://www.batcon.org

Which is the homepage for Bat Conservation Intl, and which even has lists of bat species by U.S. state.

I'm very glad that the days when most people would simply step on an unwanted chiropterid visitor are (mostly) over; thanks from the bottom of my volunteer-wildlife-rehabilitator's heart (my wife is the pro...).