Big Brown Bat: SB Wildlife Care Network’s Patient of the Week

Source: SBWCN

Patient #3563: Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
Status: Still in care

On August 18th, the Wildlife Care Network admitted a female Big Brown Bat with a broken wing. SB Wildlife Care Network’s wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Avery Berkowitz, pinned the bat’s tiny fractured humerus, and so began the bat’s road to recovery. 

Sometimes it takes a while to get patients to eat well after surgery. Not this bat! She enjoyed dozens of wax worms, mealworms, super worms, and horned worms every day during her first few weeks in care. Now, she dines on roaches and crickets. She is fed by hand using forceps. Mammal staff have to be careful not to feed her too much because she will just keep eating. 

On September 22, Dr. Berkowitz removed the pin in the bat’s wing. The wing has a great range of motion. She’s made great progress. Staff will keep monitoring her progress until she is ready to fly in the wild once again. 

You can watch a video of this Big Brown Bat enjoying her bugs here: https://youtu.be/t9NsVXI3Mu0 

You can support this Big Brown Bat’s diet and the rest of the animals in care by visiting  https://www.sbwcn.org/donate