Bat House Forum

[Terry Lobdell]

Here is a picture of one of two big brown pups that I found roosting on the chimney near my uncle's bat house.

[Terry Lobdell]

When I first found them on the chimney they were cold to the touch. In the sun they started crawling around on my hand trying to nurse. After taking the pictures I put them back up in the box.

[Terry Lobdell]

This is the box they came out of. They obviously are overcrowded which is why I mounted the new soffit box yesterday. This picture was taken before the new box was mounted and you can see the pup on the chimney in the background. If you look on the left side of the outer crevice you can see the nose of pup hanging down. It appeared to be a runt.

[Terry Lobdell]

I posted this picture yesterday, but put it on this thread as well as I have learned some hard lessons about downed pups. The older east facing box has 3 crevices, the 2 front are wooden lathe and the back is plastic mesh. I've noticed the bats are usually in the 2 front crevices. This may explain why pups are falling.......so far I've found 5 dead pups plus a total of 3 clinging outside or near the outside that I was able to put back up in. One of them appeared to be a runt and when I put it back up in an adult, I'm assuming the mother came down and began sniffing it much like a dog would do.........I'm hoping they acclimate quickly to the new box and it alleviates the crowding........

[Terry Lobdell]

This is the runt as it climbed up to meet it's mother. At least I think it was it's own mother the way she was sniffing it.........

 

[Joe Spencer]

Nice photos Terry..  Terry, how long has the original uncle house been there?  Was it formerly the only bat house on the property?

[Terry Lobdell]

Joe, I think it's been there about 4 years now........

[IowaNate]

Great photos Terry! I hope the addition of the newer bat house will help with overcrowding if thats the problem. The little brown pups that I have seen at the Nature Center this year are still small enough to sit on a quarter without any body part going over the edges. Your big brown pups look nice and healthy even if one might be a bit of a runt.

  I will be watching my houses very closely as well since one seems to be almost maxed out for occupancy. But with me only getting there about once a week , I probably can't help with returning fallen pups if it happens.

[Terry Lobdell]

According to a lady I know who rehabs bats, the pup in the first picture was severely dehydrated. The wrinkly skin indicates the dehydration.

I had stopped by about 5 days in a row and found no more fallen pups. Then today I stopped by and found 4 dead ones on the ground which makes a total of 9 this year.:(. From my exit count, there are only about 25 big brown mothers in here at the most. And there are about 35 up under my uncle's chimney cap. The box is 3 crevices about 14" wide and about 20" tall........I have definitely got to make changes next year so this does not happen again. 

My other big brown maternity colony at my home has only had one fallen pup, about 3/4 grown a couple years ago and I just put him back up in the box. I have never found a dead pup of  either species at home.

[Joe Spencer]

Maybe one of the (Big Brown) twins (runt sacrifice) had to be ignored by the Mothers.  I've seen this at a couple sites I monitored over the years.