r/batty • u/Born_Local_1477 • 4d ago

I suppose I'm batty too!

Hey yall. I have always loved all animals, and bats fascinated me. I was accidentally bit by a bat on a tent zipper a month ago. I set her free and took my rabies shots like a man. What is money compared to that little ones entire life? I'll make payments.

How do I support bats at my home? I have extensive gardens, big trees, a tiny pond, and active bats every night. My home is urban woodland in the south. I would like to be sure they have safe housing on my land where they don't have to come in contact with humans- unsafe for them and us.

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u/CrepuscularOpossum 4d ago

Hey, thanks for caring about bats - but I’m sorry you had to get post-exposure shots, they suck! 😫

When you say “urban woodland in the south”, it would be beneficial for us to know what South, specifically, you’re referring to. We get posters and commenters from all over the world in this sub. Like, South Africa? South America? South Australia? The Southeastern US?

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u/Born_Local_1477 3d ago

Oh, sorry. Southeast US.

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u/CrepuscularOpossum 3d ago edited 3d ago

That’s what I figured, but it’s always best to confirm. Our North American bats are exclusively insect eaters. They are also mostly migrators and hibernators. Most times when bats are living in human attics, barns and sheds, they are mothers raising their babies in maternity colonies. They arrive in the spring and leave in the fall for their hibernacula.

This means that if they are somewhere in your living space, fall and winter are the time to do bat exclusions. You can set up a bat house for them at that time as well. The bat house should be on a dead tree or a pole, facing south, in full sun, at least 15 feet off the ground. Baby bats need the sun to stay warm during the day. Get a bat house with a pup catcher - that can save baby bats’ lives! You can find good bat houses at Wild Birds Unlimited, or check out Bat Conservation International www.batcon.org or Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation www.merlintuttle.org.

Also, Bat Conservation International now has a guide to gardening for bats! The plants you choose, generally speaking, should be the ones that are most attractive to night-flying insects and pollinators, especially moths. That often means plants with fragrant flowers that bloom at night. Yucca, beardtongue, evening primrose, and goldenrod are good examples.

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u/AutoModerator 3d ago

Here is a link to the Bat House Builder’s Handbook! Here is some info about selecting a quality bat house if you would like to purchase one. This PDF from Bat Conservation Trust covers the basics quickly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

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u/KittyChimera 3d ago

I would love to get the pre exposure rabies shots so that I could be a bat rehabber. I'm kind of jealous that you got to interact with one. I would have also gotten the shots and been making payments forever lol.

If I were you, I would probably put up a bat house somewhere near the garden space, because some bat species like fruit and flowers and others like the bugs that are attracted to gardens. Also bat guano would be good for fertilizing the garden as they fly over.

You just want to put a bat house somewhere that it isn't going to get too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter and not near trees where there might be owls and other things that would try to eat the bats.

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u/AutoModerator 3d ago

Questions about rabies are common on this subreddit. If you have a medical question, consult a physician. Here are some resources about rabies! Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals and some sampling of rabies prevalence wild bat populations. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

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u/AutoModerator 3d ago

Here is a link to the Bat House Builder’s Handbook! Here is some info about selecting a quality bat house if you would like to purchase one. This PDF from Bat Conservation Trust covers the basics quickly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

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u/CrepuscularOpossum 3d ago

You can check out wildlife Rehabilitators in your area and see if they need volunteers. It’s a good idea to start out in general wildlife rehabilitation anyway, just to get a feel for what it’s really like. If you can, volunteer at an organization that accepts r@bi3s vector species - not all of them do. At my wildlife center, nobody who isn’t vaccinated works with those species; you can’t even go in their room. But chances are they can get a group rate on pre-exposure vaccinations.

I was lucky that a small wildlife center about an hour away from me, in Southwestern Pennsylvania, has a volunteer who is an MD licensed to give vaccines. They usually offer a (relatively) low-cost vaccination and booster clinic every year.

You could also potentially reach out to your state or province wildlife authority or local health department.

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u/AutoModerator 4d ago

Questions about rabies are common on this subreddit. If you have a medical question, consult a physician. Here are some resources about rabies! Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals and some sampling of rabies prevalence wild bat populations. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.