A bat which was brought into care as a baby and has developed to an appropriate stage to consider release will still need to satisfy the criteria set out in the Rehab and release section on:
Flight,
Echolocation,
Feeding,
Grooming.
Special attention should be given to the bat’s ability to navigate and feed – although navigating and feeding behaviour appears to be instinctive baby bats need time and opportunities to learn and refine their skills.
Having access to a range of indoor flight areas before going into an outdoor flight cage gives young bats chance to develop their flight muscles and stamina so that they spend less time on the floor in the outdoor cage.
Options for (internal) flight areas include reptariums, tents, pet playpens, mesh or screen tents and homemade nets.
Indoor flight areas should offer soft landings, be hazard free and predator proof.
When satisfied with the bat’s abilities in an indoor flight area, the bat should progress to an outdoor flight cage.
Outdoor flight cages should provide opportunities for roosting and catching live insects (see Flight cages section for more information).
Where flying un-weaned bats in a flight cage, ensure they are fed on milk during the day and offered heat before being placed in the flight cage at night.
It is important to consider the warmth that an un-weaned bat requires. Bats should not be flown in unseasonable conditions and opportunities provided for bats to cluster together as they would do in the wild.
When bats are first in the flight cage they may not have the skills to echolocate and fly back to bat boxes to roost. If so they should have concealed themselves at dawn (i.e. under tea towels pinned up in strategic places) and can be retrieved and placed in the bat box after feeding. Eventually their skills will enable them to pursue and take insects, or if necessary (if insects are temporarily in short supply) take insects in flight from strategic dishes of mini mealworms (large species will manage regular mealworms) and later return to the bat box
without difficulty. A choice of bat boxes will allow for the nomadic behaviour of pipistrelle juveniles.
It is important that bats have a minimum of 3 weeks of experience in the outdoor flight cage before considering release.
Additional information on flight cages is provided in the Flight cages section.