What do bats eat at home: what and how much to feed, what the animals eat

Are bats good pets?

You can keep a bat as a pet. Unfortunately, the cage is not suitable for bats. These mammals do better in the wild. Bats need to fly long distances to stay strong.

This means that a bat in a cage is weaker than in the wild. They also need to be in the colony to survive. A bat in the wild can live up to 30 years, while only a few domestic bats will live to be a year old.

Bats require special care, housing and food. They are complex animals, so caring for them properly is nearly impossible even if you wanted to. Many people only try this for a few weeks and then get bored with it.

Bats are unique animals. Taking them from the wild is not recommended. But if you still decide to have a bat as a pet, pay attention to the following points:

Feeding insectivorous bat pups

Bats are natural hunters.
In nature, they bravely fight with prey, sometimes larger than the weight of the animal. Some species of bats feed on rodents, frogs, birds, scorpions, spiders and even fish, which they deftly pick up right from the surface of the water with the help of sharp claws and a tail membrane. However, in America there are species of bats that feed on flower nectar and fruits, as well as real vampires that drink the blood of large animals. Russian bats feed on insects. Their diet may consist of mosquitoes, worms, midges, caterpillars, beetles, crickets, wood grubs, flies, grasshoppers, ants and cockroaches. Thus, they provide benefits by eliminating pests.

However, it happens that winged animals, getting injured or waking up during hibernation, fall under the temporary care of humans. And while caring for adults is relatively simple, feeding orphaned babies requires special skills and diet. What to feed a rescued bat during wintering or rehabilitation, how to prepare a mixture for the cubs - this will be discussed further.

Determination of age. To begin with, it is important to determine the approximate age of the winged patient. So, in adult animals the fur is thick and fluffy, while in babies it is short, silky or completely absent. Thus, cubs up to three weeks of age require an exclusively milk diet, up to six weeks - the inclusion of a small amount of a mixture of mealworms, up to seven - both previous types of food and an introduction to live food, and after that - food consisting entirely of insects.

(Fig. 1) Baby bat

(Fig. 2) Adult bat

Water. Whatever the age of your ward, there should always be a container of water in the cage or incubator, which must be changed daily. Optimal diameter –

no more than 5 cm, depth - no more than 2 cm, so that if an animal gets into a bowl, it can easily get out of there. Observe and make sure that the winged patient actually drinks water. If for some reason he cannot do this on his own, at first you will need to feed him from a syringe without a needle or, in case of severe dehydration, replenish the fluid subcutaneously with saline. For the first option, use a 1 ml tuberculin syringe without a nozzle or with a flexible elastomer cannula. Special feeding tubes for feeding rodents are also perfect. Photo 3 shows the author of the article feeding a bat from a syringe through a cannula.

(Fig. 3) Water supply through a syringe with a flexible cannula

Correct position. Pay attention to the position of the animal in Fig. 3: vertically, “sitting” on the ring finger of the hand, the back rests against the middle and index fingers, and the thumb fixes the animal on the chest under the chin. In this case, the ward is wrapped in a fabric roll up to neck level. This position is the most comfortable and safe for both you and the animal, and most importantly, it helps to avoid its release and protect you from bites. If you are not vaccinated against rabies, wear gloves as well.

Adult diet. For adult animals temporarily kept in captivity, live food such as mealworms, zoobass and crickets is suitable. However, it is important to decapitate the zofobas first to avoid its bites. If the bat does not feed on its own, tweezer feeding will be required at first. You can also squeeze out some of the insides of the zoophobass so that the animal can smell it and taste the food. Teach your child to eat on his own: place several mealworms in a wide container with low sides, and then each time bring the tweezers with the food closer and closer to the bowl, gradually lowering it to its bottom. Soon the animal will get used to finding food in it without your help. Do not forget to feed live food with fresh vegetables so that your winged ward receives the necessary vitamins along with it.

You need to feed the bat during its active period - in the evening, preferably after dark. The approximate norm for an adult animal is 4-8 zofobas or 6-12 mealworms. But look at its physical condition: for example, bats that wake up in winter need energy replenishment and weight gain, and therefore their norm can be significantly increased. And, conversely, well-fed animals preparing to return to the wild should not gain excess body weight, as otherwise this will affect their ability to fly. Ideal physical shape is the same width of the abdominal and chest areas. Additionally, one-time or in a course, you can give a micro-drop (at the tip of a thin food tube) of calcium in the form of syrup.

Feeding orphaned babies. As mentioned above, cubs up to seven weeks of age require a milk diet. However, regular milk is not suitable, since bats only digest soy or goat milk well. Use any soy or goat milk based infant formula. So, it could be “Infasa”, “Fitalakt”, “Nutrilak-soy” or their other analogues. It is good to add fresh goat milk to the mixture. The recipe is as follows:

· 1.5 scoops of infant formula

· 100 ml goat milk (if available)

· 2 tsp. egg powder or 1 white

· A quarter teaspoon of human baby probiotic in powder form

· 2 ml of veterinary food supplement, for example, Megaderm or analogues (preferably)

The finished mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a day. Before each feeding, it must be heated in a water bath (in a container over hot water). It is given from a syringe through a thin plastic cannula/feeding tube or dripped onto a sponge applicator, the tip of which is placed in the baby’s mouth. The tip of an eyeshadow applicator is ideal.

The main risk when feeding is the danger of overfeeding. Babies at this age do not yet have a “stop signal,” so it is important to visually control the amount they drink. The abdomen should not resemble a ball and exceed the volume of the chest; ideally, it is good for it to be slightly rounded.

The feeding regimen of baby bats differs from that of flying foxes in that they require formula as their stomachs empty. In cubs without fur, food remains are visible even in the light; in older ones, you can carefully feel them. If you are not sure, just stick to an interval of 4-5 hours or listen to your ward: accustomed to people and the regime in captivity, they themselves begin to make sounds when they are hungry, asking for food.

After feeding, gently move a piece of toilet paper or tissue over your pet's genital area to help him go to the toilet.

Diet from 2-3 weeks. As soon as the baby begins to actively grow fur, begin to accustom him to more adult food. The mealworm mix is prepared as follows:

· Half a cup of frozen mealworms or zoobasa

1/6 cup cold water

· 1/3 baby formula based on soy or goat milk

· Half a teaspoon of any vitamin supplement for animals - in powder form

· 1 tsp. veterinary mineral supplement – for example, “Missing Link” or equivalent

· 1/6 tsp. veterinary dental liquid - for example, “Petkin Liquid Oral Care” or equivalent. The fact is that dark plaque on the teeth of bats is not uncommon; it occurs when they begin feeding on an insectivorous diet, and therefore it is better to use such a means of protection. Instead, you can later apply a micro-amount of dental gel for cats and dogs directly to the mealworm.

All ingredients are ground in a blender to a puree consistency. Pour the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. Before each feeding, take out a cube (or more, depending on the number of animals) and defrost it in a container placed in another with hot water. The defrosted mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days; it cannot be re-frozen.

From the age of six weeks, the mix is given from a syringe without a needle in an amount of approximately 0.6-0.9 ml (depending on the size of the animal. It is most convenient to use a tuberculin volume of 1 ml. At the same time, do not forget to monitor the volume of the abdomen to prevent overfeeding. (Fig. 4).

After feeding by hand, be sure to wipe the area around the animal's mouth and chest with a piece of toilet paper or a napkin to prevent fungal infections (Fig. 5).

Before this, the main diet should be formula milk, and the mixture described above is used only as an additive in very small quantities, gradually increasing them. Later you can alternate the menu.

(Fig. 4) Syringe feeding a mixture of mealworms with additives

(Fig. 5) Hygiene after feeding

Diet from 4-6 weeks. From this age, you can begin to add live food to feeding with formula milk and mealworm mix. In the first days of getting to know it, it is better to offer worms cut into two or three parts, after which - whole ones; for starters, you can offer them non-living, thawed ones, gradually accustoming them to living ones. A headless zoobass would also work.

From the age of 7 weeks, the animal should be completely switched to live food.

Feed storage. Mealworms and zofobas can be bred in captivity. You can find enough information on how to organize this process on the Internet. In any case, since sometimes, especially in small towns, live food can be difficult to find, it is better to always have frozen food in reserve. The worms are defrosted in containers filled with a small amount of cold water. (Fig. 6). This will take no more than 10 minutes. Do not add warm or hot water, otherwise the heat will “cook” them. Thawed food should not be re-frozen.

(Fig. 6) Defrosting zofobas

Important: always warm the animal before feeding. To do this, hold it in your hand, wrapped in cloth, for 2-5 minutes. The vibration of his muscles will tell you about the warming process. When it stops, the animal is ready to eat.

Bon appetit and quick rehabilitation to your flying charges!

What to feed a bat?

Different species of bats eat different types of food. The age of the bat also affects what they eat.

Here are some foods that bats like to eat:

Milk: All bats feed on milk for the first six months of life.

Fruit: Some species of bats eat fruit. They are usually attracted to the smell of ripe fruit.

Insects: Most bats (about 70%) eat insects. Some of the insects include mosquitoes, cockroaches, flies and beetles.

Blood: Only a few species of bats from Mexico and South America are known to feed on the blood of mammals and birds.

Nectar: Bats that eat nectar have a long snout and tongue for feeding. They resemble hummingbirds.

Fish and other animals: Some species of bats are known to eat fish, frogs, birds, lizards and some rodents. Other bats may even feed on other bats.

What do bats eat at home: planning their diet and diet

At home, the animal will willingly eat:

mealworms;
adult beetles (chafer beetles);
pupae;
crickets;
Zophobas (larvae of darkling beetles);
milk mixture.

To increase the nutritional value of the worms, 3-4 days before the mouse meal, put them in flat jars and treat them generously with vitamins and protein: meat (boiled and raw), fresh vegetables (carrots, cabbage), you can give white bread dipped in milk. Before feeding the mouse, be sure to separate the worms from the remains of their food.

Composition of milk formula for mice:

milk (1 glass is enough);
1 egg yolk;
purified beer yeast (or bran, you will need wheat) -1 tsp;
Ca glycerophosphate liquid or granules - 5 g;
honey or rosehip syrup - 1 tsp;
vitamin E - 2 drops.

Sometimes you should add 2-3 crushed multivitamin tablets to the finished product.

For the first feeding, you should pick up the mouse in its usual position and bring the mealworm directly to your mouth. Then the animal itself learns to eat them from the jar. The milk mixture is fed using a pipette. It is given periodically for 7 days, then a break for 1–2 weeks. Give out worms and insects in portions 5-6 times a week.

It is enough to feed a healthy individual once a day - in the evening, when it begins to be active. For a sick, weakened woman, 3-4 times a day, a liquid vitamin-yeast cocktail made from milk is a must in her diet.

How to determine the amount of food your pet needs? Flyers do not hunt at home; they get food more easily than wild ones - keep in mind that they are prone to gluttony. The rufous noctule can “persuad” hundreds of mature mealworms at a time, while the sharp-eared noctule can “persuad” 50–60. For their health, you need to reduce such portions by half. In the first days in a new place, during the adaptation period, 1/4 of the maximum dose is enough - 15–20 worms is enough.

Further, in the process of observing the animal, you will adjust the regime and diet according to its individual needs. Do not feed the mouse from your table or other food not intended for it - this will kill the animal.

What do bats get sick with?

Rabies

Like many other wild animals, bats can carry the rabies virus. Even a small, seemingly insignificant bat bite can cause transmission of the virus. This means that before you get a bat, you must be vaccinated against the virus.

An infected bat may even pass the virus to other pets in the house. Even after being vaccinated against rabies, a person will need additional help if they are bitten by a rabid bat or other animal. It's not as simple as getting a rabies vaccine.

In addition to rabies, bats can transmit deadly viruses such as Hendra (in horses), SARS and Ebola to other mammals.

These viruses do not affect bats because they have very effective immune systems. This gives them broad spectrum immunity against viral attacks. Other animals may experience serious health problems or even death.

Insectivores

Mice that eat insects don't eat everything.

Each animal has its own taste preferences. Some people love bugs and midges, some love butterflies and moths, while others enjoy eating small spiders or enjoying wood larvae.

Mice can hunt such small prey either in groups or individually.

Mice only catch insects in the air. Thanks to ultrasound, they calculate the location of the insect and capture it.

Some species prefer to immediately swallow the prey in the air, others grab it with their wings, as if it were a net or blades.

Others use their tail membrane. They form a net and catch the insect with it.

But there are very few such bats. Usually hunting and eating occur at the same time, but sometimes mice throw a “dinner party” for a family or even a colony.

Vampires

There are very few blood-eating bats in the world—only three species. Common, bushy-legged and white-winged vampires.

Important: These bloodsuckers do not drink human blood. The maximum they are capable of is to bite a person in self-defense.

The entire body structure of these bats is adapted to their nutrition.

They have a short nose with infrared receptors, very large incisors and grooves on the lower jaw through which blood flows.

Important: Vampires are the only bats capable of moving on land. Having found the victim using ultrasound, the bloodsucker approaches it on the ground, uses its receptors to calculate the best place to bite and attacks.

These animals do not suck blood, but lap it up . Vampires' saliva contains a special enzyme that prevents the victim's blood from clotting. Bats cannot drink large amounts of blood, so this factor should not be scary. But they are carriers of dangerous diseases that can be transmitted to livestock, which they love very much, or to humans.

Bats are some of the most amazing creatures on the planet. They are the only mammals capable of flight, each species has special social relationships, and all mice are very caring towards children and members of the colony.

Bats are the only mammal that naturally can fly. There are more than 700 known species of bats, most of which are insectivores. To survive the cold season, without having a food supply, these winged animals effectively adapt to the conditions of their environment. How and where they winter - read in our materials.

How to feed?

If you pick up an animal in winter, it may indeed be weakened. To do this, you need to weigh it. Weight is an indicator of fatness. If the rufous noctule weighs less than 27 grams, it needs to be fed. For late leather it is 25 grams, Kulya bat - 7 grams, two-color leather - 13 grams.

First of all, you need to drink water. As much as the animal can drink. From a syringe, or from a spoon or drinking bowl for rodents.

Before feeding, the bat needs to be “warmed” for 10-15 minutes, this can be done in your hands (with gloves) or near a radiator. She will wake up and be ready to drink and eat. She may shake (this is rapid breathing), try to escape and squeak. This is normal and necessary so that the animal can then digest what it has eaten.

You can hold the animal in your hand or cover it from above with your hand without pressing it to the surface. Insects should be collected using tweezers. During the first feeding, it is better to cut the insects in half and give the juicy part first. Please note that in nature, bats feed on the fly, so they may not immediately realize that you are giving them food. This requires patience and dexterity. Sometimes you need to directly put an insect in your mouth so that the animal understands that it is food. Crickets and cockroaches need to be crushed so that they do not run away, and then given to the animal.

After feeding, you need to offer the animal water. The second and subsequent feedings are already easier and faster, since the bat understands that food is being offered to it.

Is it possible to tame?

Dreaming of having a bat at home, some imagine that it will wait for their return in the evenings, cuddle up, and with it on your shoulder you can walk through city parks. This opinion is wrong. These animals do not get used to humans, they do not get bored, but they need communication.

The animal can take food from your hands, allow itself to be stroked, and even react positively to this. But in order to tame him, he must get into the house when he is very tiny. The best option would be to buy from a nursery. An adult bat caught in the wild will have difficulty adjusting to the constant presence of humans nearby.

Another obstacle to full communication with such a pet is its nocturnal lifestyle. Only closer to midnight does the animal begin to show attention to the outside world and is ready for games and affection.

Living conditions at home

The living conditions of bats outside the wild should be as close to it as possible.

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About the home

Chiropterans live mainly in caves, mountains or attics. One wall of the enclosure should be made of stone or relief, reminiscent of a gorge. The enclosure should be at least 2.5x3 m. There should be a lot of greenery inside. It would be ideal if the enclosure is closely adjacent to a standard tree.

About temperature

When designing an enclosure, be sure to take care of the temperature inside it. Bats are very thermophilic, so the temperature should be +30 degrees. Prolonged stay in the cold entails disruption of digestion and sleep, which can lead to death. The enclosure must be equipped with a system of manholes where the small animal can warm up. With the arrival of seasonal cold weather, bats hibernate. During this period they are placed in a warm place.

Carnivores

Bats that prefer flesh look very different from their herbivorous comrades. These animals have fairly sharp teeth and large body sizes.

They prefer small animals as food: lizards, frogs, mice (not flying ones) and some small birds. For example, warblers.

Help: Somehow, flying animals manage to determine which frogs can be poisonous and which cannot. There was not a single case where predators made a mistake in their choice.

Despite this diet, carnivorous mice very often feed on insects. They are not averse to eating beetles or butterflies. The method of hunting their prey is the same as that of insectivores.

The difference is that such a prey cannot be eaten in the air, so the bats rush at it, press it with their body and wings, which form a kind of net and then kill the prey.

Raising baby bats

So, you have found a baby bat. Your actions:

Carefully examine the animal for injuries (swelling, hematomas, fractures, etc.). If your bat has any fractures or injuries, you will need veterinary attention.
Determine the age of the cub . Its diet and living conditions will depend on the age of the cub.
Give them a drink of water , since animals are often found dehydrated, and the first thing they need is clean boiled water.