Winter and Bats

This winter has been harsh for a lot of critters, especially our native bats! These two Silver-haired Bats are in a hibernaculum, where they will spend the winter sleeping in comfort. The room that they are in barely gets above 50°F, which is a little bit above optimal hibernation temperature. These bats came in for separate problems - the one on the left was caught by a cat and had to be overwintered. The one on the right fell from the alcoves of somebody's house because it was so cold and couldn't find the strength to get back. The new bat was kept alone for over a week to make sure he wasn't ill, and after he passed he was put into the enclosure to sleep. There was some concern that they would fight but, as you can see, they quickly snuggled up to each other for comfort! This picture was taken while waking them up for a once-weekly feeding and weighing. Fun fact: we are one of only two centers in the state that has a bat subpermittee - somebody who can care for bats off-site.