I stay at that house that evening to look for emerging bats (I expected the nursery roost somewhere in that building) but there was no roost there. Bat droppings in the attick indicated that there was a roost earlier, but not that day.
Later that night the woman called me again about another bat flying trough her house. It turned to be a female pipistrelle, and clearly one that was lactating (giving milk).
When I put them together in a cage I kept my fingers crossed. Was this mother and son?
Yes, it was! The youngster started drinking from the mother's breast right away.
However, the female bat was not I great shape and I doubted if she was able to fly with the youngster on her breast (female bats do that). So now they stay with me a couple of days to regain strenght. The female eats very well and the youngster drinks a lot of melk. Tomorrow I'm going to search for the nursery roost in a bigger area. The sooner I find it the better.
Also found a bat? Please don't try to nurse it at home, but contact a Wildlife SOS centre in your neighbourhood.
Some picture of the mother and pup:
The pup is the greyish bat on the left, the mother is more reddish-brown.
Everyday I let out of them of their cage for some necessary exercise. Since two days the pup is also trying to fly, with great results. He is clumsy but he already manages to fly 2-3 minutes on its own and landing on the wall!
Greatings,
Erik
