bats

Steele · 11-19-03, 05:39 PM

has enyone herd of some one keeping bats as pets?

Rebecca · 11-19-03, 05:41 PM

Ya I believe people do it all the time. I don't know anyone personally but people do keep them as pets.

marisa · 11-19-03, 05:57 PM

There is a person on this forum I believe who rehabs bats. Not sure if they are an active member now but they mentioned it and shared some photos at one time.

Marisa

Pirranha · 11-19-03, 06:10 PM

I was always told bats had a more than normals chance of having parasites,and diseases,like fleas,worms,and rabies,because they lived communally-i think it was just so i wouldnt try to play with em as a kid,but the mindset stuck,and ive never heard any different.
What kinds do people keep,and is there any info either for or against what i was told?

-Pat

SCReptiles · 11-19-03, 06:12 PM

In the early 90’s we imported and sold Jamaican Fruit Bats. They were pretty good pets. It would be difficult to keep any of the North American species or Vampires.

Stockwell · 11-19-03, 06:50 PM

Bats are frequently liked by herpers. Unfortunately they can't be kept legally most places.
They are also extremely high maintenance.
I must recommend never taking possession of any form of wild bat.
Here's a little story for your amusement.

I once had a pet little brown bat. I "rescued" it from a petstore

I had it for a few months, and it was eating me out of house and home. ( I think about 1000 crickets every two weeks)
It got me in loads of trouble, and after it accidentally bit me, it had to be euthanized, there was no option for me to simply receive the Rabies shots. I was forced to either surrender the specimen voluntarily, or have it seized forcefully, under provison of law. So I surrendered it...This is where the story gets strange.

I was instructed to take it "Alive" "in a little container"to the local health authority.

When I did, the margarine container I had the little guy in, started bouncing on the counter...
They flipped right out, and said "it's not alive in there is it?"
I said , yes, I was told to bring it in alive and you guys would look after everything.
Well, they hit the bloody ceiling, and yelled at me and called me every name in the book. Then they asked who told me that, and I gave the guys name....Then they called him every name in the book too.
Then I had to fill out a ton of forms, and while I was writing, a woman was watching me from a distance, and suddenly gasped, and said.
"Oh my god, is that where it bit you????"

I looked at the many red puncture marks she was referring to, and realized it was the opposite hand to where the bat nicked me.

I looked her straight in the face and calmly said..."No, that's just a Boa bite"...."The bat bit me on this hand"
LOL...you should have seen her face

Anyway, I was a celebrity for a while, having every health authority in the country contacting me at work every hour of the day...and asking if I felt OK. Sometimes I wasn't sure if this was a rhetorical question or real concern.
I also found out something you all should realize.
Once you start showing signs or symptoms of Rabies...
Apparently you're too far gone to be cured.
As Johny Carson used to say " I did not know that"

Silly me was thinking if I started to feel weird( like weirder I guess lol) I would seek medical help at that point, of course I would have been toast if that scenario had of played out

Anyway, the bat was euthanized, and the brain irradiated and examined, and tested for Rabies. (they must use the brain for this, apparently)
I requested to just be given the shots to save the animals life, but it doesn't work that way, because they dont just give out those shots...(they are too expensive to give on a maybe)

The test results came back....NEGATIVE.....
I was fine....the Bat was DEAD...end of story

The moral of the story.
Don't play zoo keeper with wild bats... it's not fair to them

mykee · 11-19-03, 07:49 PM

Had a friend who kept a few as pets. Cute little buggers. Well-behaved too.

Jeff_Favelle · 11-19-03, 08:55 PM

That's a crazy story Roy!! Holy!

Remind me not to let you bite me!

Simon · 11-19-03, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
Remind me not to let you bite me!

So you would of let Roy bite you before you heard this story?
LOL~
Geeze....I don't think that I'll let anyone bite me...hahaa

Nice story Roy...too bad for the poor little bat....
Glad that you're alright though~

chas*e · 11-19-03, 10:19 PM

What a killer story Roy....LMAO

Stockwell · 11-19-03, 10:54 PM

Favelle, between my recent flea and mite bites, combined with my bat incident,hundreds of snake bites, and a bout with ticks,plus the fact I was once on doctor prescribed Flagyl, I'm pretty damn close to qualifying as vermin, myself.
You might want a glove to even shake hands! LOL
Every time I use provent o mite, I wonder whether I'll be the first host to die.

TheRedDragon · 11-19-03, 11:00 PM

Yikes, that's a hell of a lot to go through over a bat. I would sure love to have one of those cute little critters as a pet, but, I am quite aware of all the implications that follow, so, I just have to dream.

Linds · 11-20-03, 12:35 AM

The insectivorous bats are very hard to maintain in captivity I believe due to the fact that they eat an incredibly diverse diet. www.batconservation.org is a great site if you are in to bats. They sell bat houses, and books about building bat houses if you wish to attract bats to your home. Its the best way to have pet bats

A friend of mine had an incident with a bat a few months ago. The cat somehow caught the bat and ripped up one of its wings pretty good. My friend finally managed to catch the little bugger to spare its life, but couldn't bring himself to let it go in that condition. He kept it for a short while before his father came over to visit and told him he should contact the SPCA. I think we all know what happened to that poor little bat

LOL Roy should I spray myself down with BK the next time I see you?

Jeff_Favelle · 11-20-03, 03:04 AM

Quote:

I'm pretty damn close to qualifying as vermin, myself.

LOL!! YOU said it, not me!!!

Ha ha, JK!

Weather1 · 11-20-03, 06:11 AM

I built a bat house for a friend and I this summer. As soon as I hung it up they were ther in about 3 nights. It is great to sit on my deck at night and see them flying around. Here is the one I built.

http://users.ms11.net/~habitat/bat/medhouse.htm

Edit: I hope the people that buy my house this spring will keep the bat house up. I will then build a new one for my new house. I am moving from Ontario to Victoria because of work.