Losing faith in humanity…one person at a time

My son was playing with a friend in our backyard one afternoon, when I heard quite a commotion. He came running inside screaming. He had found a bat on a tree. Did I mention it was broad daylight, and that my son was (at the time) 5 years old? Jacob took me to the tree where I got my first up close and personal look at a (live) tiny dark brown bat.

He was clinging to the trunk of a pine, about 3ft off the ground. Wow. Of course the first thing I thought was…rabies. He wasn’t behaving strangely (except that he was out during the daytime, hanging out on the base of a tree.) He appeared to be calm, no frothing at the mouth (as we all have heard rabid animals do,) or aggressive behavior. I do not recommend that anyone handle an injured wild animal. Especially one that is found under such unusual conditions as this. Bats are nocturnal. They generally are not found in the open, so close to the ground.

I have a bit of experience in the area of wildlife rehabilitation, so we left the little bat hanging where he was while I googled information and called a few contacts. After a bit of research I decided the most likely case was this. Hoary Bats generally cling 10-15 feet off the ground in trees by day. This little guy was probably a juvenile or young adult who, after being exhausted from flying, had fallen to the ground from where he had been hanging higher up in the tree. He had climbed up on to the trunk where we found him clinging.

I made a small habitat for him using an aquarium and a potted ivy plant (for him to hang on.) I helped him move onto my heavy duty gloves, and he just hung on. He never tried to bite me. He was quite calm and curious. We spend the better part of the afternoon watching him hang on the ivy plant, and explore his surroundings. I had put a towel at the bottom of the aquarium so that he wouldn’t slide around on the glass. Bats are pretty agile. After watching him move I saw there was a defect (possible injury) near the tip of one of his wings.

We went to the pet store and got a bunch of crickets for him to eat. I soon found out that he was quite picky. He would only eat if I fed him by hand. He also loved drinking water from an eye dropper. While he seemed to LOVE the crickets, he ate about 60 a day, he would not eat the heads.

I hate to stop a story before I am done, but must continue this later.

gifninja