What sort of bat is this?

[Electric]

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.

 

[Animalfreak]

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.

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?

 

[foxywench]

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

 

[Animalfreak]

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