Expert: Jonathan Wright - 11/29/2004

Question
iam doing a college assignment on pipistrelle bats and was wondering if you could tell me how much food and how often they are fed when in captivity being rehabilitation
many thanks
Charlotte Brannan  

Answer
Dear Charlotte

Thanks for your question. I am a member of the London Bat Group, so was pleased that you are interested in bats.

I have compiled information using
http://212.187.155.84/pass_06june/list_wpmod_cont/ukwildlifefirstaid/Health&Man/... and a bat care leaflet obtained from the Bat Conservation Trust. Please note that you people should avoid hand-rearing pipistrelles and other insectivorous bats, unless they are qualified for the task. This task should be left to trained people, with licences. In Britain there are laws about keeping bats and people can be prosecuted for keeping a bat illegally.

You can use a small paintbrush or a very small pipette, or a small catheter attached to a small syringe for feeding a bat. Bats found grounded or injured are usually dehydrated and many perk up immediately when they have had a drink. This drink should be water or an oral rehydration solution, such as Lectade using a pipette or small paintbrush, with a gradual changeover to a milk substitute over several feeds.

Some people feed baby bats with cows' or goats' milk. You can feed very small bats by placing a drop of milk on the lips, preferably with the bat held upright. Alternatively, you can allow the bat to lap milk off a paintbrush. Powdered skimmed milk, with a 1-2% fat content, may be used possibly with added glucose. The site advises people to avoid changing the type of milk used or mixing different milks. Milk substitutes include Esbilac, which may be mixed one part powder to one part water. This may lead to bloat.

The site suggests that you should feed bats every 2-3 hours during the day (7.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.) and at longer intervals at night. Esbilac may be used to reduce the number of feeds to four a day. Please note that very small species, such as pipistrelles require more frequent feeding (e.g. every hour), particularly for neonate young.
You can gradually wean the bat to mealworms at 2-3 weeks. You may squeeze out the insides of mealworms so that the baby can lap them up. Alternatively, you can add mealworm fragments to milk, with more added gradually. Later whole mealworms may be given; the bat must be taught to eat these and eventually to eat them from a bowl. Some juveniles appear reluctant to wean from milk to mealworms diet and you need to persevere with this. Alternatives to mealworms include waxworms and buffalo worms. The leaflet says that you can use a small amount of canned cat or dog food in an emergency.

Please note that the natural diet of pipistrelles is very different. They eat small nematoceran flies, as well as caddis flies. They also eat mayflies, lacewings and moths. Soprano pipistrelles feed mainly on chironomids (non-biting midges) and ceratopogonids, while common pipistrelles eat psychodid and anisopodid flies. The Nathusius's pipistrelle eats small to medium-sized flying insects, especially non-biting midges of the family Chironomidae.

I hope that this answers your question. Please note the legal situation about keeping bats. I have various contacts within the London Bat Group. Some of these have been successfully keeping bats for several years. I am sure that I shall be able to obtain additional information.

I wish you all the best with your college assignment.

Jonathan