It is dusk, in a clearing near woods, and the lake. The sky is blue, sun is setting, bugs are humming, and birds are flying. Light is cascading softly through the leaves of all the trees. The soft wind brushes off the warmth of the longer days of mid-May.
I am carrying port-o-bugs, mesh pop-up, zippered containers with bats in them. I wish a long, joyful, life to each bat as I reach in the port-o-bug, and take one at a time, releasing it, into the air. Carefully, I watch to be certain each maintains proper altitude, and flying ability, ready to recapture it, and rehab it more, if necessary. As one is flying well, I release another, and so on, until all are gone. This is the moment in which I wish all my rescues would culminate; release and freedom to be the bats they were born to be.
It is in this moment, that I am grateful for having the chance to help them, touch their lives, and even more grateful that they have touched mine. This instant is a melting pot of emotions; elation, sadness, fear, and relief. I have done my part. Like all rehabbers, I realize that I cannot save every one, but by doing what I can, I enrich the life of each bat I help, as my life is also enriched.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Mealworms
In the wild. each species of bat, eats certain insects. In captivity, whether for rehab, or long term care, replicating same feeding conditions is impossible. Who want his/her house filled with flying mosquitoes, beetles, moths, etc? It's simply not ideal, nor easy, to feed a bat's choice of daily intake of insects.
Instead, rehabbers feed mealworms to captive bats. The mealworm size is relative to the bat. Pipistrelles may eat small mealworms, where, hoary bats would eat large mealworms. Rehabbers often will buy mealworms from mealworm producers, in order to relieve themselves of the time-consuming hassle of raising enough of their own to feed. Two years ago, however, there was a country-wide mealworm shortage. This left all rehabbers- bat and avian, as well as many others, such as those with iguanas, etc, in dire straits.
The shortage was rumored to have been caused by many things. The bottom line was that there were no mealworms, and therefore, many bats, and other animals, went hungry. Rationing mealworms daily was the only answer I had at the time. It occurred to me quickly, though, that in order to avoid future issues, as well as the very high cost of shipping them, I would need to begin growing my own.
Raising mealworms isn't fast, nor precise. It involves many hours spent sifting the larvae, from the "frass" (mealworm waste product), as well as sifitng beetles from their eggs, and the pupae from the larvae, as well. The mealworm and beetle stages are the only two stages where food is consumed. The pupae stage is one of transition from the larvae to the beetle.
Mealworms are kept in a media of wheat germ, wheat bran, powdered vitamins, calcium, spirulina, and bone meal. The raw fruit and vegetables they consume are cabbage, apples, carrots, sweet potatoes, and lettuce. These must be rotated and checked daily so there isn't too much moisture building, or the mealworms can get moldy, rendering them unfit, unsafe food for bats.
Beetles are also fed. They eat apple peel with a little apple meat on the inside. Moisture is a big factor with them as well. The lifecycle depends on the season, I have found. The warmer it is outside, the quicker the cycle. Cold weather affects the cycle adversely. A general cycle is about 5 weeks from consumable larvae to new consumable larvae.
At any given time I usually have 8 large Rubbermaid containers filled with "worms" in varying stages of growth, to pupae and beetles. Currently, I think I have about 500 beetles in egg-laying mode, 10,000 or more "worms", and 100 pupae. Generally I use about 7,000 mealworms a month in feeding the bats.
The time I put in with raising mealworms is worth it to me. I know where all my worms come from as well as the health of what I am feeding the bats. Now I am also saving about $1,000 a year, also. The time may or may not balance out with that, but to me, it's also sort of a meditative, relaxing, task.
Instead, rehabbers feed mealworms to captive bats. The mealworm size is relative to the bat. Pipistrelles may eat small mealworms, where, hoary bats would eat large mealworms. Rehabbers often will buy mealworms from mealworm producers, in order to relieve themselves of the time-consuming hassle of raising enough of their own to feed. Two years ago, however, there was a country-wide mealworm shortage. This left all rehabbers- bat and avian, as well as many others, such as those with iguanas, etc, in dire straits.
The shortage was rumored to have been caused by many things. The bottom line was that there were no mealworms, and therefore, many bats, and other animals, went hungry. Rationing mealworms daily was the only answer I had at the time. It occurred to me quickly, though, that in order to avoid future issues, as well as the very high cost of shipping them, I would need to begin growing my own.
Raising mealworms isn't fast, nor precise. It involves many hours spent sifting the larvae, from the "frass" (mealworm waste product), as well as sifitng beetles from their eggs, and the pupae from the larvae, as well. The mealworm and beetle stages are the only two stages where food is consumed. The pupae stage is one of transition from the larvae to the beetle.
Mealworms are kept in a media of wheat germ, wheat bran, powdered vitamins, calcium, spirulina, and bone meal. The raw fruit and vegetables they consume are cabbage, apples, carrots, sweet potatoes, and lettuce. These must be rotated and checked daily so there isn't too much moisture building, or the mealworms can get moldy, rendering them unfit, unsafe food for bats.
Beetles are also fed. They eat apple peel with a little apple meat on the inside. Moisture is a big factor with them as well. The lifecycle depends on the season, I have found. The warmer it is outside, the quicker the cycle. Cold weather affects the cycle adversely. A general cycle is about 5 weeks from consumable larvae to new consumable larvae.
At any given time I usually have 8 large Rubbermaid containers filled with "worms" in varying stages of growth, to pupae and beetles. Currently, I think I have about 500 beetles in egg-laying mode, 10,000 or more "worms", and 100 pupae. Generally I use about 7,000 mealworms a month in feeding the bats.
The time I put in with raising mealworms is worth it to me. I know where all my worms come from as well as the health of what I am feeding the bats. Now I am also saving about $1,000 a year, also. The time may or may not balance out with that, but to me, it's also sort of a meditative, relaxing, task.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
So You Think You'd Like to Rehab Bats...
Rehabbing bats is really rewarding and interesting. You meet new people from many different walks of life, and you have the opportunity to save bats' lives. The first step is learning what the rehabbing laws are in your state and becoming a member of any local rehabbing groups, so that you gain knowledge from other rehabbers, as well as getting them to know you and trust you. That helps immensely when people are releasing animals to you. Word of mouth is a postive thing.
The next step is to locate the clinic or doctor's office from which you'll be getting your rabies innoculations. Not every family doctor will write a prescription for them. Often, you'll be going to a clinic that gives injections for travellers. The shots are never covered by insurance since insurance companies view this as "recreational" or "leisure" activities. Funny thing is, if you were to actually contract rabies, from not being innoculated, their bill could be around a million dollars-worst case scenario-, instead of $600-$1000. Not a good trade-off in my opinion, but hey, I am not an insurance company. The father of Gina Geise, a local Wisconsin resident, who contracted rabies a few years ago from handling a bat with her bare hands, stated that her medical bills were upwards of a million dollars...But she lived, and most people don't.
So, be prepared to shell out your own money. The injections are staggered in time, but must ALWAYS be given intramuscular. Only in the upper arm, never in the glut, as there is too much fatty tissue in the glut, and hitting a muscle there is not an easy task. There was recently also a major shortage with rabies vaccines. The CDC has all the guidelines updated, as needed, on levels of rabies vaccines that are available to rehabbers for pre-exposure, boosters, etc, as well as post-exposure vaccines to those having been in contact with rabies vector animals.
The next step is to locate the clinic or doctor's office from which you'll be getting your rabies innoculations. Not every family doctor will write a prescription for them. Often, you'll be going to a clinic that gives injections for travellers. The shots are never covered by insurance since insurance companies view this as "recreational" or "leisure" activities. Funny thing is, if you were to actually contract rabies, from not being innoculated, their bill could be around a million dollars-worst case scenario-, instead of $600-$1000. Not a good trade-off in my opinion, but hey, I am not an insurance company. The father of Gina Geise, a local Wisconsin resident, who contracted rabies a few years ago from handling a bat with her bare hands, stated that her medical bills were upwards of a million dollars...But she lived, and most people don't.
So, be prepared to shell out your own money. The injections are staggered in time, but must ALWAYS be given intramuscular. Only in the upper arm, never in the glut, as there is too much fatty tissue in the glut, and hitting a muscle there is not an easy task. There was recently also a major shortage with rabies vaccines. The CDC has all the guidelines updated, as needed, on levels of rabies vaccines that are available to rehabbers for pre-exposure, boosters, etc, as well as post-exposure vaccines to those having been in contact with rabies vector animals.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wisconsin Bats
Here in Wisconsin we have several different types of bats. We have the Big Brown. There's also the Hoary, the Northern Long Ear, LIttle Brown, Pipistrelle, Silver Hair, Red, and Indiana. The Indiana bat is an endangered species, rarely seen in Wisconsin.
Red bats, Hoary Bats, and Silver Hairs are foliage roosting bats. Little Browns, Big Browns, Northern Long Ears are crevice dwelling bats. The bat in this photo is a baby Big Brown bat, about 2 weeks old.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
The Boys
In the bigger cage I have "The Boys". As I mentioned before, I pretty much solely keep the boys, and the Madison rehabbers keep the girls. These bats I term "The Boys" include some of my first bats that I ever got in for rehabbing, and include others that I got more recently.
Vleer, Vicious, Abe, and Bale are in the 6'x4'x6' cage. Maybe that's silly since they can't fly, but I like to give them room. Boys don't always get along together, since they normally don't form colonies, so I try to give them space,. After all, they are here for the rest of their lives. They were fighting at times and more space is better. Ledger was in there as well, however, sadly, he died a few weeks ago. I opened up the cage to feed them and he was face-down, in one of the 3 water dishes. He and Bale came in together in October of 2008. They were friends and were together the most. Now Bale has reformed alliances and is always huddled with the others in the cage.
One never knows exactly what happened to cause a bat's death, unless there is some obvious trauma, like a cat mauling, or broken wing due to a shutter injury. Some die of old age, some of intestinal blockage, some of pesticide poisoning. It is very unlikely that he just drowned, though.
Vleer, Vicious, Abe, and Bale are in the 6'x4'x6' cage. Maybe that's silly since they can't fly, but I like to give them room. Boys don't always get along together, since they normally don't form colonies, so I try to give them space,. After all, they are here for the rest of their lives. They were fighting at times and more space is better. Ledger was in there as well, however, sadly, he died a few weeks ago. I opened up the cage to feed them and he was face-down, in one of the 3 water dishes. He and Bale came in together in October of 2008. They were friends and were together the most. Now Bale has reformed alliances and is always huddled with the others in the cage.
One never knows exactly what happened to cause a bat's death, unless there is some obvious trauma, like a cat mauling, or broken wing due to a shutter injury. Some die of old age, some of intestinal blockage, some of pesticide poisoning. It is very unlikely that he just drowned, though.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Sweet Potato
The evening before Thanksgiving this year I received a call about a found bat. It had been hanging on a window perimeter for a couple of days. The people at the company were hoping it would fly away. My husband picked up the bat and upon his return home, I discovered the bat was a Red Bat. Red bats are foliage roosters, unlike Big Browns, who are crevice dwellers. Those are the types of bats we have in Wisconsin. The bats here are also all insectivorous, meaning they only eat insects.
Female crevice dwellers colonize, but no foliage roosters do. This little bat was used to being alone, but she was obviously either greatly off course, based on the season and her location, or she never figured out where she was supposed to fly. In the Fall, foliage roosters in Wisconsin generally migrate and hibernate.
I discovered the new bat was a female, so I named her Sweet Potato, in honor of Thanksgiving. She is 100% releasable. Feeding her almost 40 worms daily, by hand is tiring, at best. However, totally worth it. She and I have become buddies, but there is a sense of her returning to being wilder now, which is good. Since Thanksgiving she had never figured out how to eat alone, until the last few days. I still give her water manually, to be sure that she’s getting enough.
Female crevice dwellers colonize, but no foliage roosters do. This little bat was used to being alone, but she was obviously either greatly off course, based on the season and her location, or she never figured out where she was supposed to fly. In the Fall, foliage roosters in Wisconsin generally migrate and hibernate.
I discovered the new bat was a female, so I named her Sweet Potato, in honor of Thanksgiving. She is 100% releasable. Feeding her almost 40 worms daily, by hand is tiring, at best. However, totally worth it. She and I have become buddies, but there is a sense of her returning to being wilder now, which is good. Since Thanksgiving she had never figured out how to eat alone, until the last few days. I still give her water manually, to be sure that she’s getting enough.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Winthrop- My First Baby Bat
It was July, and the first baby bat that I ever rescued was about 7 days old, from my estimation. His eyes weren’t yet open, he had little “milk-teeth”, he was hairless and pale, with had a purple-greyish cast to his skin. The gentleman who located me on the internet under a search for “bat rehabbers in Wisconsin” said that the little bat had fallen out of the bat maternity colony in his clay roof tiles. I brought a port-o-bat with a warming disc and cloths to place him in for the trip home. He needed feeding and bats must be warm in order to feed them, or they can’t absorb the meal properly, and the milk can sour or bloat in their stomachs, causing death.I named him Winthrop, after the street name where I picked him up. Winthrop immediately began being fed milk replacement about 7 times a day for a week or so, after which it tapered down over the next few weeks to once a day, filling in another meal with decapitated meal worms. Feeding baby bats milk replacement is quite time consuming and each meal, in the beginning, took about 45 minutes. Obviously, we spent many hours together, deeply bonding, since he was missing anyone able to truly care for him.
As Winthrop grew and was eating only meal worms, our feeding times turned game-like for the tiny Big Brown bat. Like all young children, young bats play as well. Winthrop began to anticipate the zipper of the mesh crate I kept him in being opened, and he liked to follow the zipper. We played this game each time I needed to feed or water him…I ran my fingernail along the zipper to make him think it was being opened. He ran along it, chasing my fingernail, and I was able to safely open the zipper behind him. I placed my arm in the crate, he jumped onto it and ran up my arm, hungrily waiting for hand fed worms, eating up to 35 a night.
As Winthrop grew and Spring approached, I knew he’d be a candidate for release after May 15th. I started teaching him to fly in the flight cage. We’d have a couple of lessons a night and as his wings got stronger, and he sustained flight longer, I knew he’d be able to be a real bat soon, free and outside. We still played games every night and he was moved into the larger cage where he could fly at will, with all the older boys. By then his routine was to greet me when I walked into the cage by flying to my shoulder, and climbing in my hair, where he would hang next to my ear, and chirp in his happy little bat way… That was so special to me. I still made sure he ate enough nightly and he was doing amazingly well with all his training.
May 15th came and he was moved to the outside, secure flight cage to see if he would catch insects on his own…He never figured that out, unfortunately, even with the guidance of other wild bats that I had “wintered-over”….Winthrop was unreleasable simply because he wouldn’t be able to find food for himself. My heart sank for him because he could never be freed. He was, however, happy, in the world that he’d grown accustomed to, having never known another…
Monday, March 22, 2010
Getting Our First Bats
After moving to Milwaukee and getting settled in here, I reconnected with the Madison bat rehabbers. The rehabber they worked with previously in Milwaukee, had recently moved to Minnesota. Soon I was also volunteering in the Wisconsin Humane Society's wildlife rehab facility and eventually started caring for some non-releaseable bats at home.
All the things I was working toward were falling into place. I always name the bats I receive and the first non-releasable, educational bats were Vleer and Vesper. Soon after I picked up Vicious, appropriately named, at that time. After several years, and complete healing from his near fatal compound wing fracture, he's one of the sweetest bats in my care.
The agreement is that I care for non-releasable male bats and the Madison rehabbers keep the females, which prevents unplanned baby bats. Since Big Brown bats can live up to 30 years in captivity, there would be the potential for one pup a year from the females, if they were not segregated based on gender. The most common bats in Wisconsin are the Big Browns, followed by Little Browns. In addition to those we have these other bats: Hoary, Red, Silver Hair, Eastern Pipistrelle, and the Northern Long Ear.
Even though I had been through an intensive course, as with everything, there was a learning curve. I am still learning about the bats to this day, and every night when I feed them, medicated the ones in need, and clean their housing, I remember why I do it; to help all that I can, realizing that I can't save every one, but their chances are much better with me, and others like me, trying to help them one by one.
All the things I was working toward were falling into place. I always name the bats I receive and the first non-releasable, educational bats were Vleer and Vesper. Soon after I picked up Vicious, appropriately named, at that time. After several years, and complete healing from his near fatal compound wing fracture, he's one of the sweetest bats in my care.
The agreement is that I care for non-releasable male bats and the Madison rehabbers keep the females, which prevents unplanned baby bats. Since Big Brown bats can live up to 30 years in captivity, there would be the potential for one pup a year from the females, if they were not segregated based on gender. The most common bats in Wisconsin are the Big Browns, followed by Little Browns. In addition to those we have these other bats: Hoary, Red, Silver Hair, Eastern Pipistrelle, and the Northern Long Ear.
Even though I had been through an intensive course, as with everything, there was a learning curve. I am still learning about the bats to this day, and every night when I feed them, medicated the ones in need, and clean their housing, I remember why I do it; to help all that I can, realizing that I can't save every one, but their chances are much better with me, and others like me, trying to help them one by one.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
How I Originally Became Interested in Bats
It was 1995 and I was watching the Discovery Channel. The topic was bats and the location was Mineral Wells, Texas. The story was about a woman, Amanda Lollar (http://www.batworld.org/), who was walking along the sidewalk one summer day and found a little Mexican Free-Tailed bat, later know as "Sunshine") clinging to life, baking on the sidewalk. Amanda knew nothing of bat rehab, and I suspect that there was very little knowledge in general about it then, anyway, but she knew that she could not leave the bat to die, so she scooped it up took it home, so do enormous amounts of research on helping her.
The story unfolded to reveal that on that day, Amanda's life was changed. Since then, she has given her life to rehabbing and saving bats, as well as becoming a foremost authority on bats in the US. I was greatly moved by this, having been an animal lover my entire life, saving little creatures that I would encounter, who needed some sort of treatment and help. Soon, I began joining groups like BCI (Bat Conservation International) and Bat World Sanctuary. Trips were organized to tour caves and watch bat emergences at dusk. I traveled to do these things.
Eventually, in 2003, I decided to learn from Amanda in Texas, and attended her "Bat Boot Camp" so that I, too, could begin to personally help and save bats. The first step was to be innoculated against rabies, though. In July, 2003, I attended the week-long, intensive, 12+ hour days to learn about bats. I was elated and the experience was very rewarding!
At that time I was living in New Orleans, LA, and the people attending Amanda's bootcamp were from all over the US. Two people I met there were from Madison, WI, and we became friends. Also while I was there my husband was offered a position at a university in Milwaukee, so it evolved that the Madison bat rehabbers and I would be working closely together after my move.
The story unfolded to reveal that on that day, Amanda's life was changed. Since then, she has given her life to rehabbing and saving bats, as well as becoming a foremost authority on bats in the US. I was greatly moved by this, having been an animal lover my entire life, saving little creatures that I would encounter, who needed some sort of treatment and help. Soon, I began joining groups like BCI (Bat Conservation International) and Bat World Sanctuary. Trips were organized to tour caves and watch bat emergences at dusk. I traveled to do these things.
Eventually, in 2003, I decided to learn from Amanda in Texas, and attended her "Bat Boot Camp" so that I, too, could begin to personally help and save bats. The first step was to be innoculated against rabies, though. In July, 2003, I attended the week-long, intensive, 12+ hour days to learn about bats. I was elated and the experience was very rewarding!
At that time I was living in New Orleans, LA, and the people attending Amanda's bootcamp were from all over the US. Two people I met there were from Madison, WI, and we became friends. Also while I was there my husband was offered a position at a university in Milwaukee, so it evolved that the Madison bat rehabbers and I would be working closely together after my move.
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