We have found that BB female colonies will accept a young BB male as
long as they are not yet sexually mature. We have put young banded
males into a female colony in Santa Rosa, CA and found them hunting in
the back yard (a large yard near water with lots of vegetation and
insects) with the other BBs. Once a male is sexually mature, around 10
months for west coast BBs, the females will no longer accept them.
There's always a lot of screaming and carrying on whenever we add bats
to this colony; female or otherwise. But by the next day everything
has quieted down, and the rehabilitator has found our banded females
night roosting with the rest of the colony several years later. We did
add some mature BB males to this colony several years ago, and left
food and water dishes out for them, which they used so much that we
finally took them away for fear they would never learn to hunt. The
rehabilitator, who is an excellent observer, saw their colored bands
flashing 2 months later as they hunted with the females. (We used
different colored bands so that we could tell which bats we were
looking at without having to bother them with capturing and handling.)
So I think your bats will be fine as long as the colony is intact. You
could try soft hacking by leaving their food and water dishes (use the
same ones they have used in captivity so that they recognize them)
nearby and well up off the ground. Some of our bats use the food we
put out for about 10 days, some never use them, but are found later
doing just fine.

We just got our 3rd BB newborn in. All three were less than a day old,
and apparently never got colostrum in their tummies before dropping.
One was returned to a roost that we could reach, and did not drop
again (to our knowledge, at least) 1 died at 5 days, which usually
happens when they have received no colostrum from their mothers, and
the other one just came in this morning with a damp umbellicus stump,
so probably will not make it.

Patricia
Calif. Bat Cons. Fund

>
>
> With Oso, my little big brown bat pup, getting older, I have a BUNCH
> of questions in preparation for his release. My last bbbs couldn't
> be released, so they're my education bats.
>
> If Bruce can locate the colony on the Tulsa University campus, is it
> safe to release him into that one? I believe it's a maternity
> colony. While he's this year's pup, one experienced bat
> rehabilitator told me that a lone male might not be accepted. She
> also advised that it would probably be okay to release him nearby
> and let him find his own companions. Might there be some bachelors
> nearby? Should I just release him in the vicinity of the colony?
> Would he be able to find the other bats and know to take up
> residence with them?
>
> I tried very carefully introducing Oso to the two adult big browns.
> Both Oso and the female were completely indifferent. Oso actually
> seemed oblivious to the other bats. My adult male, however, became
> quite agitated, and came charging out of his pouch giving irritation
> buzzes. Does the fact that Oso seemed to care nothing at all about
> the adult bats mean anything? He's been brought up alone.... Will
> he be able to learn to socialize properly once I release him?
>
> If Bruce is unable to locate the TU colony, is anyone aware of a
> colony comparatively close to central Oklahoma? I'd love it if
> Leslie could introduce him to the colony that she uses, but Virginia
> is a bit far from here.
>
> My questions may be a bit premature. Oso hasn't yet shown any
> interest in flying. He is, though, self-feeding (though I still
> feed him formula in the morning and at night).
>
> Thanks for any and all information you can give me.
>
> Carol Bunyard
> Oklahoma
>
>
>
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>
>
>



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