What do bats eat?

[lankeela]

A strange question from one of my customers today. If you found an injured bat (or a baby one) what would you feed it on? I expect I could find out if I trolled through the net but just wondered if anyone had any ideas?

[drgnrdr]

Not a bat expert by any means...but...does it depend on the type you have? fruit bat, vampire bat, or regular bat...insects mostly for reg bats, get out the blender and round up some bugs and liquify and get a syringe type thing and dish it out that way to their mouth?

Not sure what type but that would be my guess on what and how...fruit bat of course would go towards fruitty stuff, and vampire bat needs blood added.

Saw one show, a bat caught a moth in midair, a vampire bat landed on a cow and near it hoof, cut it with it's tooth and drank some blood.....fascinating.

I know it doesn't help much, maybe a "batologist" will arrive for you...good luck..~/:\~

[WendyS]

I believe they mostly feed on airborne insects, such as flying moths, etc. I suspect feeding an injured bat would be difficult unless you could find an adequate supply of spiders, gnats & moths. Tiny amounts of chicken pet food might act as a substitute but probably the RSPCA or a wildlife organisation dealing in injured animals would be a better source of information.

[heathfield]

Try http://www.bats.org.uk/news_events/documents/BatCareWorkshopNotes.pdf

[lankeela]

Most interesting. Thanks for the link.

[spudqueen]

I believe that you have to have a licence to handle bats so if you find an injured bat (or a baby one) you have to call in your local bat group, you can't look after it yourself.