# Any bat keepers?



## ScorpDemon (Jun 6, 2007)

Just curious if anyone keeps bats? If you do, lets see some pics of the animals, and the enclosures.


----------



## Mr. Mordax (Jun 6, 2007)

I don't know if it's easy (or possible) to keep them in captivity . . . I know a lot of places have bat-boxes, though.    (Think: birdhouse for bats.)

They're fun, though.  I like walking around at twilight during summer evenings and watching them flit around catching gnats and stuff.


----------



## ScorpDemon (Jun 6, 2007)

I remember seeing a show on Discovery Channel some time ago about a lady who had a shed full of them, the enclosures looked to be made from wire mesh and some were in what looked like reptariums. Most of them were rescues who couldn't make it on their own, but she talked about some of them as if they were pets . I think it was on Dirty Jobs, but I'm not 100% sure.


----------



## Heather (Jun 6, 2007)

I don't know a whole lot about keeping bats as pets, but I do help out with a few at the museum.

Currently we have a Big Brown Bat, Silver Bat and a Red Bat.

I only have pics of the brown and red:

Here is the Big Brown Bat (hardly big, but it's common name nonetheless)






And the Red Bat, who just gave birth to 3 babes yesterday morning.











The enclosures are fairly small with a soft cloth and a piece of bark, water in a dish.  The Red and Brown bats eat on the fly, so we had to 'teach' them to eat while resting.  The Brown bat is now being flown every day and is now able to be handled without biting.  (We waited 6 months before holding him, just to make sure he showed no signs of rabies.)  The Silver Bat will eat on the ground, but we've been unsuccessful on getting any flight out of her.  The Red Bat came in less than a week ago, so we have just been feeding and letting her get used to us slowly.

We have been feeding them a diet mainly of mealworms, but have begun introducing new insects into their diets, namely crickets for now.

I know nothing of the 'proper' care of bats, I only know what I have been shown.  Our bats seem healthy and happy... so that must mean something!


----------



## beetleman (Jun 6, 2007)

when i worked at this exotic petshop years ago they had  egyptian fruitbats,very cool and vocal too,and they bred very well,they were fun to work with,but all the customers would say WOW bats! what do they eat?where do they come from?:wall: we had a big sign on the enclosure saying what they were:? they all went to a zoo,they were just for display for awhile.


----------



## Drachenjager (Jun 6, 2007)

i dont know, but i was told i had bats in my belfrey one time... not sure what that means, do you? No i dont why did you ask me ? Who are you ? I am you didnt you know that ? Yes we are all you !!! BWAHHAHAHAHA 
ummm 
can someone please recomend a good physco A trist


----------



## Scorpendra (Jun 6, 2007)

this petstore here on the island has a species of fruit bat as the owner's personal pet...i'm positive it's being kept incorrectly, though. that place doesn't have the best track record when it comes to exotics care; my (now deceased) STO didn't have a chunk of her ear missing for nothing.


----------



## Mr. Mordax (Jun 7, 2007)

Those bats are so CUTE!!!  

I had a friend in high school who tried rehabilitating baby bats on several occasions when they fell out of roosts near her home . . . they never survived, but I got to hold one while it crawled across my hand and made the most adorable little squeaky sounds.


----------



## ~Abyss~ (Jun 7, 2007)

ScorpDemon said:


> I remember seeing a show on Discovery Channel some time ago about a lady who had a shed full of them, the enclosures looked to be made from wire mesh and some were in what looked like reptariums. Most of them were rescues who couldn't make it on their own, but she talked about some of them as if they were pets . I think it was on Dirty Jobs, but I'm not 100% sure.


I saw a similar show but with a single bat that she rescued. Maybe she ended up getting more I don't remember. But I do remember she created some bat boxes that connected form her attic to the outside window so they would fly out at night and return home.


----------



## compnerd7 (Jun 8, 2007)

I've never raised bats but i think they are awsome, one of my fav mamals! I had the plesure of catching one when i was on a trip to Canada/Minniesoda about 2 weeks ago, they are really cool amazing animals! I would love to have one as a pet, so if u do end up getting one let me know how that goes


----------



## Yuki (Jun 11, 2007)

I am pretty sure you cant keep them as pets.. they have laws on them. if someone keeps them they would have to have a permit.


----------



## Marcel_h (Jun 11, 2007)

Heather said:


> I don't know a whole lot about keeping bats as pets, but I do help out with a few at the museum.
> 
> Currently we have a Big Brown Bat, Silver Bat and a Red Bat.
> 
> ...


Could you tell something about you get them to mealworms? Would it be possible to post an picture of the complete cage?

 I kept some egyptian fruitbats in the past there not to hard to keep. I had them in an indoor aviary i fed them fresh fruit and an special formula for bats we can buy here.


----------



## tkn0spdr (Jun 17, 2007)

A few petshops in my area also sell the Egyptian Fruitbats. They are really neat and I would love to have one, but at $1500 a pop I don't think it'll be anytime soon.
Also, my wife is ready to kill me because of the GTP I just brought home.


----------



## Dark (Jun 17, 2007)

tkn0spdr said:


> GTP I just brought home.





Molitor said:


> STO didn't have a chunk of her ear missing for nothing.



Sorry, but What exactly are GTP's and STO's?

Ugh...   You know typing out full names is great exercise


----------



## tkn0spdr (Jun 17, 2007)

I don't know about STO, but GTP is green tree python.


----------



## mr.wilderness (Jul 31, 2007)

I'm pretty sure you're just not supposed to keep the native U.S species because they are all endangered or threatened.  Some of those tropical ones like egyptian fruit bats and straw colored fruit bats are fairly common, its just finding them legit thats a toughy.  Plus I'm not really feeling the $1500 price tag, maybe $500, but 4 digit stuff to me= macaw, sloth, and/or kinkajou price.  Then again, bats are pretty hard to find, so...


----------



## wonderwes (Aug 1, 2007)

*indeed*

i have always admired bats and wanted one as a pet i think there are rabbies laws,although i dont fully understand how bats get rabbies


----------



## wonderwes (Aug 1, 2007)

*What*

WHAT endangerd seriusly my yard swarms with them at dusk and all through the night..i see like tons all the time


----------



## David_F (Aug 1, 2007)

wonderwes said:


> i have always admired bats and wanted one as a pet i think there are rabbies laws,although i dont fully understand how bats get rabbies


Info on rabies in bats



wonderwes said:


> WHAT endangerd seriusly my yard swarms with them at dusk and all through the night..i see like tons all the time


Six species of bats in the US are listed as endangered.

Biggest problem with keeping bats (insectovores, anyway) as pets would have to be the amount of space and food they'd need.


----------



## wonderwes (Aug 1, 2007)

thanks for the link hey why dont couldnt u just tame them and let them run free at night thats how my bird is i found him as a baby in the barn a raised him ,, i leave him outside all the time and he always comes back though i dont know how smart bats are theyed have to be descently smart considering their mammals


----------



## wonderwes (Aug 1, 2007)

how do the bats get it in the first place though


----------



## mr.wilderness (Aug 1, 2007)

wonderwes said:


> how do the bats get it in the first place though


I think since they all roost together if one of them has rabies and sneezes or something it vaporizes and they are all at risk?  I think I read somewhere that people have contracted it by going into caves full of bats and breathing the fumes.


----------



## rollinkansas (Aug 1, 2007)

If you go to the reptile forum:

captivebred.co.uk there are a couple members that keep bats. They all have multi page threads on it explaining any questions youd probably have.

I know one of them has the roost area above a slop sink in his reptile room, and they have free range of the room and crap into the slop sink.


----------



## mr.wilderness (Aug 2, 2007)

*h*



rollinkansas said:


> If you go to the reptile forum:
> 
> captivebred.co.uk there are a couple members that keep bats. They all have multi page threads on it explaining any questions youd probably have.
> 
> I know one of them has the roost area above a slop sink in his reptile room, and they have free range of the room and crap into the slop sink.


That's an interesting housing method... Whatever works and lets the bats be happy i guess..


----------



## sweetmisery (Aug 2, 2007)

I used to have 2 fruit bats(flying foxes), but have to give it away... their pee really really stinks. Now that I got a bigger place, I might again. Very voracious eaters!


----------



## johnny888 (Aug 2, 2007)

Hello everyone! I just want to share a picture of this albino fruitbat that i saw in our neighboring town in the Southern province of Luzon. I wanted to have him so much so I can provide him with an appropiate enclosure but the keeper wouldn't let go of him....


----------



## sweetmisery (Aug 2, 2007)

^^ Cool. Though whats that red cord?


----------



## johnny888 (Aug 2, 2007)

The bare skin of the wingflaps is actually pinkish.


----------



## M.F.Bagaturov (Aug 2, 2007)

Wow!
Thanks for sharing the pic!!!
Great fruit-bat. What genera this one is - some Rosaettus species or any other one?
Here's mine pair of _Rosaettus aegyptiacus_. I like them very much and this is seems so the only one species available in Russian captivity.


----------



## johnny888 (Aug 3, 2007)

@M.F.Bagaturov:

Im not so sure about its genus but the most common in our place is the white winged flying fox (Pteropus_leucopterus).


----------



## Galapoheros (Aug 3, 2007)

Bats have always been interesting animals to me.  What is it with arthropods, herps, weird plants, rocks, fossils and metal detecting?  I've seen allot of the mex freetails, but one night I was going from Bryan Tx to San Marcos Tx and I hit something.  I got out of my car and peeled a bat from my grill.  It was knocked out.  It was much bigger than the freetails and a blonde color.  I kept it for a few days and then it flew away.


----------



## rm90 (Aug 5, 2007)

M.F.Bagaturov, very cute bats. One question out of curiousity -- how do you let them exercise their wings? do you let them fly around a room or something? ^_^


----------



## Ted (Aug 5, 2007)

i had a good friend in austin that raised five giant flying fox bats..they were freaking cool!!!


----------



## M.F.Bagaturov (Aug 6, 2007)

Hello Ryan!


Ryan Maguire said:


> M.F.Bagaturov, very cute bats. One question out of curiousity -- how do you let them exercise their wings? do you let them fly around a room or something? ^_^


In fact they have large enclosure but I never find them trying to fly... 
They both (both were captive born) regularly spread their wings and flap them, but never try to fly... Dunno why.
Several times being putting out into room for fly they were just flap on the floor and don't try to risen up.


----------



## christin (Aug 6, 2007)

M.F.Bagaturov said:


> Hello Ryan!
> 
> 
> In fact they have large enclosure but I never find them trying to fly...
> ...


Being captive born,they probibly never had the opportunity to build the muscle strength neccisary for flight. That would be my guess. It happens with large birds too sometimes. In particular I know of a rescued bald eagle who was kept in a closet for a longtime, after being rescued it took along time for him to build up to even very short flights. He will never be able to be released due to the atropy.

Amazing pics, bats are facinating animals! definitly in my top 10


----------



## M.F.Bagaturov (Aug 7, 2007)

I agree, Christin.
And I love my Fruit Bats much than Sugar gliders and some dormouses I own!


----------

