# What sort of bat is this?



## Animalfreak (Mar 29, 2011)

Im sorry I have no photos I will update tonight with some(maby)
If you have started to read my other thread how I wanna study bats well I do! But im not sure what type these are? I have done research but I can only see the bats at our place hanging from  a tree or flying over me I think they might be a bare back fruit bat because they eat our fruit and always sit in the bamboo trees at night or a really big fluffy tree I plan on catching one any ideas for that? And I need to know the risks and dangers of studding these bats and handling them will bare back fruit bats attack me they have not so far Im not afraid of them 

But please I need answers


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## savingdogs (Mar 29, 2011)

You don't want to catch one, just leave them alone and they won't hurt or attack you. They can be beneficial, but also can carry disease. Just leave them be! If you catch one it would likely bite you and they can carry diseases, maybe possibly even rabies. 

However, they are not a dangerous creature if left alone. Do you need to relocate them or something? Why did you wish to catch one?


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## Animalfreak (Mar 30, 2011)

savingdogs said:
			
		

> You don't want to catch one, just leave them alone and they won't hurt or attack you. They can be beneficial, but also can carry disease. Just leave them be! If you catch one it would likely bite you and they can carry diseases, maybe possibly even rabies.
> 
> However, they are not a dangerous creature if left alone. Do you need to relocate them or something? Why did you wish to catch one?


Im not going to hurt it, I just thought I could catch it with a net look at it to see what type it is then release it! And i'm not going to relocate it i'm just a kid wanting to learn something 
SOOO Do you have any idea what type it is? 
I did not want to be growled at


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## savingdogs (Mar 30, 2011)

Not growling at all...I think bats are really cool! I love the ones that live by here. But you should not handle them. 

Take some photos and see if you can identify that way. But stay well away. If you have some local, how cool you can study them from where you live. I've noticed if you just sit outside quietly you can observe them flying around in the early evening. They have certain areas they like to fly through. 

It is awesome you want to learn about them! I wasn't growling, honest! But they can carry rabies, so you don't want to catch them. Most wild animals would naturally bite you if you caught them and you don't want to take that chance.


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## Animalfreak (Mar 30, 2011)

savingdogs said:
			
		

> Not growling at all...I think bats are really cool! I love the ones that live by here. But you should not handle them.
> 
> Take some photos and see if you can identify that way. But stay well away. If you have some local, how cool you can study them from where you live. I've noticed if you just sit outside quietly you can observe them flying around in the early evening. They have certain areas they like to fly through.
> 
> It is awesome you want to learn about them! I wasn't growling, honest! But they can carry rabies, so you don't want to catch them. Most wild animals would naturally bite you if you caught them and you don't want to take that chance.


Oh ok sorry 
Oh so even with a net I should not take the chance?  Because I swear I would not touch it  Ohhh well but then how could I ever hold one? Maby I should ask my dad or watch some videos and learn a bit more first???


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## patandchickens (Mar 30, 2011)

Y'all should note that the original poster is in Australia. Rabies is _ not_ a possibility (AU has so far successfully kept it out); fruit bats *are*. 

From the description, for sure definitely they are fruit bats. Fruit bats are the coolest thing, IMHO. I have absolutely no personal experience with them except seeing them in zoo exhibits but they are one of my very favorite mammals, maybe even better than otters or housecats 

DO NOT try to net one, though. You will severely injure it. Also they can and do bite, which even though rabies is not an issue it is really no fun to get bit by critters like that.  You cannot hold one. Give up that idea.

What would be a good idea would be to google "fruit bats", or to see what books your library has, and do as much reading about them as you can.

Then you will enjoy watching them even more b/c you will understand more what you're seeing; and maybe you can think of some interesting study project like counting how many are on a certain stand of trees every evening and seeing how it relates to weather, or something like that. 

Good luck, have fun, enjoy your fruit bats,

Pat, sadly born on a totally fruitbatless continent


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## savingdogs (Mar 30, 2011)

I don't know about fruit bats, but I know that our bats here can be attracted by building bat "houses".....it is a great beginner craftsman project for a young person, I'd look into making one of those, or if fruit bats like them......That might be a way of studying them up closer. 

How nice AU does not have rabies......


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## patandchickens (Mar 30, 2011)

savingdogs said:
			
		

> How nice AU does not have rabies......


Huh, they have plagues of foxes, rabbits, cane toads, and about a jillion native highly-venomous spiders and snakes. Rabies is probably *afraid* of Australia  LOL

Pat


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## Animalfreak (Mar 30, 2011)

patandchickens said:
			
		

> savingdogs said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey know that was rude and mean to our country!!!


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## foxywench (Mar 30, 2011)

i did respond already on another forum...
but its highly unlikely there barebacks due tot eh fact there one of the few fruit bat species that prefer caves...

its probably one of the other flying foxes, black, little red, grey headed or spectacled.

please do NOT net or try to hold them, they stress incredibly easily.

if you want to get some hands on experience with bats your best bet is to try to find someone who specializes in bat rehabilitation and volunteering to help them out.

or if its realy a calling you could go to school for zoology and eventually persue a specialty degree in Chiropterology (the study of bats)
we do need more bat specialists around the world as bats are suffering from a number of illnesses that are destoying colonies world wide!

if you want to see them even more upclose (bat houses dont help with fruties are they prefer open roosts) is to place fruit bat feeders around your yard.

anything from scewers hung from trees to simply a table laid out with some sliced fruit and a wire frame for the bats to hold onto...
remember fruit bats actually prefer over ripe fruit (they will take any ripe fruit too but prefer overripe) banannas, mango, and oranges seem to be favorites.)

go to google.com and do a search for fruit bat feeder...itll give you lots of ideas...
then in the evenings turn out the lights, set up a chair and just sit quietly need one of the feeders.


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## Electric (Mar 30, 2011)

Do not catch them! I nursed a bat that my cat had caught a couple of months ago (it died anyway) and he was way over stressed, sweating and panting. I kept him in a fish tank (empty) with black paper lining it, and fed him small dead bugs through a straw, and water from a new paint brush (a small one). He was doing well, but died from a stress overload. Do not I repeat, do not catch them. They are very small, (some are large)  have an incredibly fast heart rate, and can get over stressed way to easily. The best  way to observe bats is to go to a local zoo, or ranger station, and talk to someone who can guide you to a good location to view them.


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## Animalfreak (Mar 31, 2011)

foxywench said:
			
		

> i did respond already on another forum...
> but its highly unlikely there barebacks due tot eh fact there one of the few fruit bat species that prefer caves...
> 
> its probably one of the other flying foxes, black, little red, grey headed or spectacled.
> ...


Do you put it on the ground or up in the tree cause when there on the tree it is sooooooooo hard to see them with a torch  
And have you done this before does it accusaly work?


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## foxywench (Apr 2, 2011)

they are very well camoflaged 

if your hanging feeders from trees, you can hang them with stings from branches so they are far enough away form the trunk and low enough for you to see better.

unfortunatly theres no fruit bats in the USA so ive never been able to try fruit bat feeders, but this is how fruit bats are fed in zoos and it does work


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## Animalfreak (Apr 2, 2011)

Ok I made the feeder out of a black mower catcher but goos luck with that for me summers over and the bats are gone I wished I started studding them earlier


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