Bat House Forum

[KenA]

Hi all,

My neighbor called me over to his back yard because his dogs were molesting what he thought was a bat with "something" hanging off of it. Being the local wildlife enthousiast, I rushed over to see.

What I found was indeed a bat, and the things hanging off of it were 4 pups clinging tightly to her. She is fairly hairy, blondish brown almost golden in the sun, with a small nose and ears, beady eyes, and alot of small teeth in her mouth. She seem to be weak or in shock, but responds with a threatening yawn when I run a prod gently down her back. Her pups react quickly to a prod by recoiling closer to mom. Pups are furred also but are darker. The seem to be about 1/4 her size and 4 of them practically smothers her.

I live in the DFW metroplex in Denton, TX. I have known of bats here, but alwats assumed they were all mexican free-tails. She is kind of laying still so I cant get a good look at whether or not her tail is "free", but from what I can see, the fur goes to the tip which appears to be more rounded and fur covered.

Please offer your ID estimates and what I can do for her. She doesnt seem to be willing or able to cling or climb as for now. Who could I take it too for rehab? Can I simply try to urge her to climb up into my bathouse and see if she'll take to it? Probably not I guess.

I tried to take a picture with the cell phone but it turned out badly
Thanks a million
KenA

[Joe Spencer]

Ken, for Id a digicam photo would help. Can't be a big Brown bat since they only give birth to two young. I believe free-tailed bats give birth to one. The Red bat gives birth to two to four young. Google the Red bat or search on this forum and see if the pictures resemble what you found. If it is a Red Bat, this bat will not go into a bat house or any crevice. It only roosts in trees and their foliage. There are two people to contact in your area in the list below. Good luck and I hope it is not too late:

Rehab Help:

http://www.batworld.org/local_rescue/maplists/map.tx.list.html

[Terry Lobdell]

The description sounds like a red bat.......

[KenA]

Got them into my local wild birds unlimited store this morning, the owner of which is a rehabber. She confirmed that they were red bats too. Thanks for your help guys.