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R.I.P. Bat #2: May your green dot be an inspiration to us all. You were so bright and colorful, even though you didn't like to eat, you bloated a bit, and your lungs didn't seem right.
R.I.P. Bat #4: I choose that purple for you because it matches the paint on my bedroom walls. Now every time I look at my walls, I'll think of you.
I've become a little callused to losing bats, methinks. Or any wildlife, really. When I first started rehabbing when I was 14, I used to cry every time one of the animals died. But now, 7 years later, I just shrug my shoulders, say "Damn, that sucks", and move on. If possible, I bury the animal so it can either become one with the earth, or so another animal will find it and that animal will have food and nurishment. With these bats, they have to be preserved for the research. So today I shrugged my shoulders, said "Damn, that sucks", and then proceeded to put each dead baby bat in its own Ziplock bag with water (to keep the body hydrated), and then stuck it in the freezer.
Methinks I need my own freezer. My family is starting to get irked by the amount of dead animals in the freezer. I still have a dead bunny hidden back there, too...
I broke the cardinal rule of rehabbing: never name your animals (or think about naming them) until after day 3. The first 3 days after I recieve an animal are crucial. The animal is most likely to die within that time period, due to dehydation, malnutrition, disease, etc. Bat numbers 2 and 4 were very tiny, and quite honestly, I didn't expect them to live as long as they did. They still had umbilical cords when I got them, and their organs seemed to be a little underdeveloped. Alas, I did all that I could.
But! The good news is that I got 6 new babies tonight from Macon. All but one of the six are over 4 grams and have a spot or two of fur, which is good. The older they are, the better chance of survival they have. And this is good. There isn't much more room left in the freezer.
R.I.P. Bat #4: I choose that purple for you because it matches the paint on my bedroom walls. Now every time I look at my walls, I'll think of you.
I've become a little callused to losing bats, methinks. Or any wildlife, really. When I first started rehabbing when I was 14, I used to cry every time one of the animals died. But now, 7 years later, I just shrug my shoulders, say "Damn, that sucks", and move on. If possible, I bury the animal so it can either become one with the earth, or so another animal will find it and that animal will have food and nurishment. With these bats, they have to be preserved for the research. So today I shrugged my shoulders, said "Damn, that sucks", and then proceeded to put each dead baby bat in its own Ziplock bag with water (to keep the body hydrated), and then stuck it in the freezer.
Methinks I need my own freezer. My family is starting to get irked by the amount of dead animals in the freezer. I still have a dead bunny hidden back there, too...
I broke the cardinal rule of rehabbing: never name your animals (or think about naming them) until after day 3. The first 3 days after I recieve an animal are crucial. The animal is most likely to die within that time period, due to dehydation, malnutrition, disease, etc. Bat numbers 2 and 4 were very tiny, and quite honestly, I didn't expect them to live as long as they did. They still had umbilical cords when I got them, and their organs seemed to be a little underdeveloped. Alas, I did all that I could.
But! The good news is that I got 6 new babies tonight from Macon. All but one of the six are over 4 grams and have a spot or two of fur, which is good. The older they are, the better chance of survival they have. And this is good. There isn't much more room left in the freezer.
