The Bat Diaries

Bat Day 7

It's been a whole week! The little guy is still hanging in there! (Literally!). He is eating well, though a little less now that he's regained most of his strength. We are constantly running back to the pet store to get more meal-worms, which my mom is definitely growing tired of. I stopped feeding him crickets for a few reasons:

1) They made his feces smell terrible (crickets themselves smell terrible)

2) They're more expensive than meal-worms

3) Cedric doesn't like the legs of the crickets, so I figure if he is going to waste parts of it I shouldn't be giving them to him.

Yes; I decided on a name. It is officially Cedric. But not Cedric of Harry Potter, it is Cedric from a different book that I have come to love.

Just to catch up on the days I've missed:

Obviously he is eating and drinking fine. For a while I thought he wasn't getting any of the water I'd set out for him, but he has been peeing a lot so I assume he has found his way to the water dish. You will be surprised to know that for a bat, he has very good temperment. He doesn't show many signs of pain, though if I do touch his wing (not with my bare hands of course) he does flinch. Whether it is pain or a reflex I'm not sure, but other than that he seems to be healing fine.

When we first had him, he had pulled off some of the torn membrane with the bone in it. I have kept the bone in a plastic bag to preserve it. He doesn't seem to be physically impaired by his torn wing other than the fact that he can't fly. He still manages to latch onto things, and walk around the bottom of the cage (though he prefers to hang from the rungs of the cage).

Cedric now recognizes when food is coming. I open the cage and he usually perks right up unless he is in a really deep sleep. It is best to feed him in the evening or early in the morning, which is what I try to do most of the time. I have not been bitten at all, and he has not tried to bite me once. Even with my bare hand very close, he pays no interest to it unless it is carrying food. But I DO NOT under ANY circumstances feed him with a bare hand. I have yet to get him tested for rabies. Though my fear in getting him tested for the rabies virus is that they may ask me to give him up (even if he is not infected with rabies) just because of safety precautions. I know that if I give him up, that they will euthanize him. Then that would completely defeat the purpose of my efforts. I do not intend to keep Cedric as a pet, though if he does not heal the way he is supposed to in the next few months it may result in that. If I'm lucky, maybe I will be able to find a wildlife expert with a passion for bats! Or something along those lines...

Anyways, overall, no complications with Cedric. He is healthy, and healing. I have no way to tell what his condition is because I can't always see his wings when they're furled underneath his little arms. The most I can say is that he is not in pain, he is healthy, strong, and that his wound does not seem lethal in any manner. I'm so excited to see him get better over time, and I will be thrilled to let him free into the wild to fly with his other batty friends!

Until next time!