Bats
Bats
and the Law
Only licensed experts are allowed to move bat
colonies or
keep bats in captivity. Wildlife carers are allowed to keep bats
only
while providing treatment and with the aim of eventually returning them
to the
wild.
Initial
treatment
Housing
Bats are very adept at escaping through small
gaps so a
secure, tightly lidded container with lots of small ventilation holes
is essential.
They also need a rough surface to hang from (e.g. a piece of
towelling),
warmth
and humidity.
Small pieces of towel taped inside a plastic tank with a well fitting,
ventilated lid make a secure container and
a heat pad underneath half the base of the tank will provide extra
warmth without ovrheating.
Line the base with folded newspaper and provide a low, heavy container
full of
very wet, crumpled kitchen paper.
This will provide drinking water for the bat and humidity for the
container.
Young
bats
These need to be housed at 32°C in a humid
atmosphere.
Small pieces of towel taped inside a plastic amphibian tank with a well
fitting, ventilated lid make a secure container
but to keep them at 32°C it needs to be placed in an incubator. A dish
filled
with crumpled kitchen paper soaked in fresh water
will provide humidity as well as a drink. Make sure the bat
always has
access to water.
Toileting
If under about a week old they will need
toileting after
every meal.
Do this by slightly moistening a small twist of pure cotton wool and
VERY
GENTLY stroking the genital area with a downward movement.
You should barely touch the surface. The idea is to gently tickle the
area to
stimulate the batlet to urinate and defecate.
The batlet should produce some urine after most feeds, and faeces after
about 1
in 3 feeds.
There will only be a few tiny drops of urine and a tiny dry stick like
dropping.
Asessing
young bats
Feel the backbone - if they feel like soft
sausages then
they are OK and will manage with 4 meals a day.
If the back feels thin, tapering away and falling away from the
backbone give 2
hourly feeds from 7am to 11pm, increasing the gap between
feeds to 2½ or 3 hourly when the bat resents being woken up or feeds
erratically.
Keep the incubator heated to 32 ° C
This is very important. If batlets are not warm
enough
they will not digest the milk, become bloated and die.
Feeding
Give warm goats milk (unpasteurised if
possible), or Esbilac made up frshly from powder, fed hourly from 6am
to
midnight.
A very tiny artist’s paintbrush size 0 is ideal for feeding, as it
leaves the batlet in
control of how much milk it takes.
Once they have been hand fed for a day or two, put a few drops of milk
in a
very tiny, shallow dish with a small lip.
The lid from a film container or plastic milk bottle is very suitable.
Do not
put very much milk in at first as it could be inhaled if too deep.
Place in the incubator so the batlet(s) can help themselves.
Change milk every 2 hours between about 8am and 10pm while continuing
the hand
feeding.
Eventually the batlets will prefer to feed themselves, and amounts left
in the
incubator can be increased.
Washing Batlets
The batlets can get very sticky so need their faces washing daily and
occasional baths.
Hold by the shoulders and gently lower into a small container of warm
water
(32°)
They will spread their wings and the fur only needs a quick rinse with
a finger
to get clean.
Remove from water, wrap in a soft facial tissue or two and dab until
dry, then
replace in warm incubator.
Once they are self feeding regularly they get the hang of it and need
less
washing. Also the number of feeds can be gradually reduced.
Age
3 weeks and over
Give the juice of chopped mealworms as well as
milk.
Put a few bits of chopped mealworms and small flies (fruit flies)
killed by freezing in a shallow lid in the incubator
so they
can help themselves.
Gradually introduce small live mealworms so the young bats can help
themselves
when hungry.
Back to Feeding Mammals
Adult
bats
The housing should be the same as for young bats
but larger
amounts of mealworms will need to be supplied in a small, steep sided
dish to
prevent them escaping.
Water should be supplied in a bigger lid, with crumpled up, well soaked
tissue
or kitchen roll inside, to avoid accidental drowning.
New
patients
Warm on a heat pad or by holding if you have
warm hands.
Rehydration
Mix up a small amount of lectade or other
rehydration fluid
and warm a small amount to blood heat.
Dip in a very tiny artist's paintbrush or cotton wool bud and touch
gently to
the bat's lips.
(You may need reading glasses with the smallest species to see the
bat's mouth
and tongue!)
Keep offering the liquid until the bat isn't interested in taking more.
Once the bat has been warmed up sufficiently and had a few drops of
rehydration
fluid, offer it solid food.
Feeding
Cut the head off a mealworm and hold the cut end
of the
body to the bat's mouth.
Is should lick the soft insides and might grab it out of the tweezers
and chew
it up greedily.
Some bats will eat the whole thing, others suck out the insides and
throw away
the skin.
Keep offering mealworms until the bat has had enough. It may take 8 or
even
more if it hasn't eaten for a while.
Replace in the warm tank and leave to rest.
Place a pot of live mealworms in the tank - make a note of the number
so you
will know how many it eats.
Feeding
intervals
Offer headless
mealworms in tweezers 3 - four times a day until the bat is completely
self
feeding.
Replenish the live food last thing at night, first thing in the morning
and
during the day if they are being eaten.
Renew the drinking water and soaked tissue at the same time.
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