I am seriously thinking about just attaching shutters all over the back of the house, seeing how much the bats like them.
I am going to make a few adjustments to that house, and probably relocate it somewhere where it will get even more sun, but I'm serious about the extra shutters, too.
Ha ha again! The Freethought Forum and Chat Emporium is groaning under the weight of all the self-serving thrads I am posting today, and I don't even care! I only started a new thread this time so I could tell that hilarious LOL in the title.
OK, so this was very weird timing. We just found a bat, obviously sick or injured, right in front of our mailbox. It was scared and I felt bad about it, but I managed to get a bucket over it and weigh it down, then I called animal control and sat there keeping watch. There are some really little kids and other types of stupid people in our neighborhood, so I just needed to make extra sure everyone stayed away.
So animal control came to get it, and I just got back inside. She said it was a hoary bat, and that it has a broken wing, and that they haven't had one come back with rabies for a while, but that particular bat is not going to make it regardless.
It was not one of our bats, even, at least not that I know of. We have the little ones.
But it was a big, really pretty bat, and I feel bad for it. Especially because it was hurt and I just came up and put a dang dirty bucket over top of it.
So animal control came to get it, and I just got back inside. She said it was a hoary bat, and that it has a broken wing, and that they haven't had one come back with rabies for a while, but that particular bat is not going to make it regardless.
Do you guys have a nature center-y type place? Or a wild animal rescue? This made me remember a heron with a broken wing we took to a local nature center. They were able to heal and rehabilitate him. Some of the animals that will not be able to be released into the wild are used in their center to educate kids.
There are various types of rescues in our area--not for bats, as far as I know--but there have also been several rabid bats found in nearby cities this summer.
I feel really bad about it, but I'm not sure what else I could have done, realistically.
Sadly, very few veterinarians possess the expertise to repair the tiny, delicate bones that support a bat's flight membrane. (And sadly, few would be willing to invest the time and resources, even if they could.)
And though bats are no more likely to carry rabies than are other mammals, they certainly can carry it, so it isn't a good idea to handle a bat -- or any wild mammal -- with your bare hands.
So, it's a sad situation, but you did the right thing, and all that you could. There's little or nothing that most vets could have done, regardless.
Dr. Kerrin Hoban of Santa Cruz, California, has developed specialized microsurgery techniques to pin broken bones in bats, and is famous (well, in the right circles, anyway) for her work in saving the lives of bats with broken wings. That having been said, all she can do is save the animal's life -- she reports that only one of the bats she has operated on recovered well-enough that it regained the ability to fly and was released back into the wild.
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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
A local taxidermy club has an entire class devoted to bat bone articulation as they are so tiny and fragile. Besides that a bat with a broken wing must be constantly fed and taken care of by a human and greatly taxes sanctuaries let alone vets.
What's that long, opposable-looking extra long toe bone? It looks like he's already got 5 metatarsals and 5 phalange-toe thingies on each foot, where's that extra long one coming from?
It looks like a bone, but it's actually a long spur of cartilage called the calcar. It helps support the interfemoral membrane, the portion of the wing membrane that stretches between the legs.
The calcar (calcaneum) is labeled c, and helps support the interfemoral membrane (i. m.).
The calcar allows bats to spread the interfemoral membrane, which they often use in hunting. The spread interfemoral membrane is often used to "scoop" an insect out of the air and flip it up to the bat's mouth.
__________________
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
There are various types of rescues in our area--not for bats, as far as I know--but there have also been several rabid bats found in nearby cities this summer.
I feel really bad about it, but I'm not sure what else I could have done, realistically.
Sorry, wasn't trying to make you feel bad. Just wondering if it was a thing elsewhere. Have an appropriate smiley as recompense.
The bats are back, as of yesterday, I think. I hadn't seen any before then, but right around dusk, maybe 10 or 15 of them came out. That's not enough, and as of last year, they still hadn't moved into the bat house I built them, but I've heard sometimes it takes a while. I want them to move in and start making babies, and I don't think there's enough room for that in the shutters.
This is batshit.
The bats have left the bat tower ...
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