Update..Cold Weather Bat

[davidbarber1]

For those of you who read my thread last week, you may find this interesting. The bat in the pics in the last thread had been hanging (no pun intended) on the wall for the past week. I kept an eye on him. Well, last night when I went to work, he was on the opposite wall in the open. The temp was 40f and no wind. On my 2nd patrol, I checked the wall and he was gone. Then I noticed him on the ground. I touched him lightly with a stick and he barely moved. So I went in and got one of those cone-shaped water cups and proceeded to move him into it. He was not happy. He hissed at me. I have never heard a bat hiss. It took me by surprise. Anyways, I got him in the cup and put the cup into a Tuppaware container and took him home when I was off duty to warm him up. My wife had the heater cranked to about 75. I woke her up to show it to her: "Hey honey, you have to check this out, I have to release it." She grudgingly woke up and got the surprise of her life. "It's so cute, wow, look at the 5 toes, and his little ears, CAN WE KEEP IT?" I said no, you don't keep bats as pets. By then, it was crawling all over the place. Time to release. Yeah, he was plenty warmed up. As soon as I took the top off the container, jump, swoop, gone. Sorry I did not get any pics, my cam battery was dead :wall: :wall: Plus, he did not hang around long enough for me to get any pics. SO, my good deed for the day is done. It will be interesting to see if he returns to the wall tonight. I will find out when I go to work. I'll let you know

David

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Oh GEEZ, please be careful. Bat on the ground = call animal control.

 

[MorbidPh8]

Yea could have rabies. One time I cought a bat flying in my house. When it landed on the wall. I put on some thick leather gloves and picked it up. It was so cute and furry. Except for the super sharp pointy teeth.

 

[Neuroticax]

Yea could have rabies.

Oh my god... seriously?

Please do some research on bats. This is exactly why people think every single bat carries rabies. False information.

For one, he got hissed at, not bitten. Which is the main culprit of a human contracting rabies from a bat. The others are highly rare.

Secondly, most bats who have rabies will either be overly aggressive or paralyzed by the virus, if not dead shortly after it gets the virus. Bats are NOT carriers of rabies, however, they are victims of getting it. Rabies is not uncommon in bats but the chances of randomly encountering a bat with rabies is about the same as being struck by lightening.


To the OP: good job savin' that little guy (or gal) from the bitter cold. Hopefully he or she returns the favor by visiting you again.

 

[LeilaNami]

While rabies aren't a huge issues there are other diseases transferrable through bites however IMO there isn't any more of risk as there is with any other wild animal. Seriously, how many of us here mess with wildlife?

 

[MorbidPh8]

Secondly, most bats who have rabies will either be overly aggressive or paralyzed by the virus, if not dead shortly after it gets the virus. Bats are NOT carriers of rabies, however, they are victims of getting it.

Yea he found the bat on the ground barley moving. Bats don't hang on the ground much I would be worried it was suffering from rabbies. Seeing how its acting like its sick. Second being a victim of rabbies doesn't mean you can't get it from them. Maybe I don't know that much about bats but I do know not to mess with sick acting wildlife. A researcher in N. AZ just died from the black plauge from examining a dead moutain lion. Btw awsome save. I have a lot of bats around my house at dusk. There so fun to watch.

 

[LeilaNami]

Yea he found the bat on the ground barley moving. Bats don't hang on the ground much I would be worried it was suffering from rabbies. Seeing how its acting like its sick. Second being a victim of rabbies doesn't mean you can't get it from them. Maybe I don't know that much about bats but I do know not to mess with sick acting wildlife. A researcher in N. AZ just died from the black plauge from examining a dead moutain lion. Btw awsome save. I have a lot of bats around my house at dusk. There so fun to watch.

He had already stated that the bat was acting normal but out in the cold. It was only on the ground later. Logical conclusion would mean the little guy just got too cold and couldn't find a warm place to roost.

 

[MorbidPh8]

Quick google search found this. http://www.vaccineinformation.org go to the rabies page. I would of copied the whole link but I'm on my blackberry.

In 2001 17% of rabies found in wildlife was bats. But then again its a vaccine website so it maybe biased lol.

 

[LeilaNami]

I read some of the case histories on that site regarding rabies and bats. 99% were all "associated" or "believed to be associated". Only one that I read gave a confirmed case that the virus was contracted through a bite from a bat. None of us are saying they can't transmit the virus, just that the odds of it are unlikely. In fact, the site says 90% of rabies related cases were from dogs having the virus or transmitting the virus to humans. I think this is going in the way of the opossum. Opossums are unlikely to contract rabies because of high body temperatures yet every time someone sees one it's like "OMG rabieeez!"

 

[xchondrox]

On tv the other night there was something about a new strain of bat fungal infections. Guess it causes their immune system to increase their metabolism which burns up there fat reserves causing them to exit hibenation in the dead of winter. The fungal infection doesnt kill them they just die of starvation. I like my bats hope it stays where it is!

 

[Neuroticax]

As was stated before, it was cold and the bat was fine before and and after. If it was sick it wouldn't have "recovered" from being cold.

I also never said there wasn't any other dieseases that could possibly come with it, but we are discussing rabies, not other issues.

Information links on bats and rabies:

http://www.batworld.org/main/bat_rabies.html

http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/bats.html

http://www.batconservation.org/content/Batsrabies.html

 

[davidbarber1]

Hey everybody, I appreciate the feedback. It is my belief that the bat was cold and my observation was correct. I won't say that it did not have a disease, that was not my concern at the time. I acted like any animal lover would and attempted to allow it to recover and go back to the wild where it belongs. If it would not have recovered, that's a different story. But it did and I am happy for the animal. I've had plenty of experience with animals during my lifetime and if I had felt a threat to myself, things would have been done different. Anyways, all's happy and good

David