I was handed a very young male Common Pipistrelle that had crawled through a window and become dehydrated. He was not yet weaned or flying and as we were not able to place him for the mother bat to pick him up, I looked after him.
I fed him baby dog milk three times a day. He put on weight, but never matured. Although he exercised his wings, would run around the floor and carried out 'press-ups', he never grew teeth.
I tried to wean him by mixing some mealworm 'insides' within the milk, and he appeared to enjoy the mixture. However, after 6 weeks he deteriorated over about 24 hours, and died.
These pictures were taken on 6 July 2018 but when he died about a month afterwards, he did not look any more mature.
Does anyone have any idea about this? Usually, young bats like this one have matured into juveniles.
Thanks for any help,
Mary
Hello Mary;
Abandoned and down juveniles nearly always have something wrong with them...illness, ectoparasites, developmental disorders and the like. You were kind to try to rehabilitate the critter but you took some substantial risks. Hippoboscid flies are common ectoparasites on bats...extremely disturbing when the flies get on you!! I notice that the bat was on your luggage. That's a risky source of infestation of flies, lice and various pathogens when those items are carried home.
You might do a bit of reading about the safe handling of these most interesting animals.
Good cheer, Jim Des Lauriers
Hello Prof Jim Des Lauriers,
Thanks very much; we wondered if the mother had abandoned it because she felt that he had problems that were not apparent to us.
He is not on our luggage; he is walking on his vivarium, which he lived in when not under supervision, which is in the room where we keep bats.
We sometimes have bats with ectoparasites when we take them in, but didn't see any on him. We always use gloves to handle bats, and each has his/her own pair, with his/her name on! We only use thin gloves for pipistrelles.
I agree about the need to study bats, especially so as we take them in for the Bat Conservation Trust (who alerted us to this little chap). I'm allowed to care for bats for over 6 mths (by Natural England) and have an adult male long stay Common Pipistrelle that helps us with education. My husband, likewise, is covered for roost visits and bat box work etc. (by Natural England licensing).
We do attend conferences and belong to the East Yorkshire Bat Group (who are also very helpful when we have problems). Maggie Brown's bat carer's manual (and Maggie, herself) are also very helpful.
Thanks for your response; I appreciate it. I had been looking up why he never developed, and I also felt that mum bat sensed something that we hadn't.
Very best wishes,
Mary
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