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.
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