News, news, news!!!

a photo of two juvenile big brown bats in the Save Lucy flight cage.
Two juvenile big brown bats buddy up in the flight cage.

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years.

Hi everyone! First, I want to report on how the little Brazilian Free Tailed bat pup is doing.  She is doing very well and is nice and healthy. In fact she’s gained 3 grams since she got here. The state bat biologist is going to visit the site where she was found and use bat detectors to try to determine where her colony is. I wish I could help. I think it would be a lot of fun to discover a new colony. If the bat biologist is reading this, I’d be a huge help and work for free!

Save Lucy’s other news is that all the tiny babies that came in this June are doing very well and are now big fuzzy and very cute juveniles, who are eating a lot. There are 19 big browns and 5 red bats that are getting ready for release into the flight cage! Hopefully they will be released into the wild in the next few weeks.

A photo of a juvenile big brown bat at a feeding station in the flight cage.
One of the juveniles finds the feeding station.

My last bit of news is that I went to the Richmond zoo this week and saw fruit bats. They were awesome! They are so much bigger than the bats I’m used to seeing! Some of them had little pups hanging onto them. It was adorable!

4 Replies to “News, news, news!!!”

TMC

PS – I think bats are adorable. Also, if the state bat biologist finds the Brazilian Free Tailed bat colony, is the plan to send the little guy home?

Rachael

Yes, they would release her if they find the Brazilian Free Tailed bat colony. So far, they have not found her family though. If they don’t find the colony, they won’t be able to release her because she needs family and friends to teach her how to be a good Brazilian Free Tailed bat. And since bats are so social, she would be too lonely if they released her without other bats like her in the area. They are still looking so hopefully they will find her colony soon. By the way, they named her Freda and she’s doing really well.

TMC

Hooray! Thanks for the reply!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Copyright © 2021 Bat Conservation & Rescue of Virginia. All rights reserved.