this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
180 points (99.5% liked)

Bats

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Bats are cool

Bats are the only true flying mammals. There are over 1,400 species of bats, and they can be found on nearly every part of the planet. Not only are they cute, they are also important...

Studying how bats use echolocation has helped scientists develop navigational aids for the blind. Without bats’ pollination, seed dispersal, and pest control we wouldn’t have bananas, avocados, mangoes, agave, or cacao… that’s right, bats bring us tequila and chocolate!

Found a bat in need of help?

Celebrate bats with us!

Our community's mascot is Baxter. Baxter is an Egyptian fruit bat that was cruelly kept alone and confined to a small cage for 12 years before being rescued by a bat sanctuary. You can read the full story by clicking on his name.

Our rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Everyone should feel welcome here. Hateful or bigoted language will not be tolerated.

Don’t post anything a fruit bat would not approve of.

Please don't hate on bats in this community (this includes all of your edgy covid humor).

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think those glue / stick traps are inhumane for any animal. I moved to catch and release eventually but if you think you must kill then do so in a way that minimizes suffering. For mice the "snap" traps should generally kill quickly by snapping the neck or spine and seem much more humane than stick traps.

[–] Thatsalotofpotatoes 5 points 1 year ago

I bought a glue trap once and caught a rat. The poor thing was whining for hours until I finally had to snap it's neck by hand. Never again. I don't know why these things exist

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Glue traps should be against the Geneva convention.

[–] NegativeInf 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I dunno, I think really big ones might work pretty well on Russians.

[–] Piecemakers3Dprints 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Gonna need that "third photo", please 🤩🤗

[–] ickplant 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not a great pic, actually, you can barely see her:

[–] Piecemakers3Dprints 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But, she's safe & happy 🤗❤️

[–] ickplant 2 points 1 year ago

Indeed, makes my heart smile.

[–] ickplant 2 points 1 year ago

I’ll post it when I get home from work!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Makes me wonder whether a bat would be pet material 🤔

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's highly discouraged due to the risk of rabies. Many jurisdictions have regulations against keeping native animals as pets, also.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I highly doubt it. They're the kind of animal that would need a very large enclosure and lots of fellow bats for good quality of life. They're not as mobile as birds when not flying, and they're very social animals so they wouldn't do well alone. I don't think most birds should be kept as pets tbh but bats even less so. And that's not even considering the risk of disease.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

They'd much rather be free

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Who wouldn't =)

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Glue traps are terrible, but there's an easy way to get something free from them without hurting it: Hang the glue trap upside down over a container or bucket or something. Just let gravity slowly pull the critter free. They'll be able to clean themselves after that.

If you try to pull something out, the glue stiffens and pulls back more as the glue is a non-newtonian fluid. This will cause damage and hurt the creature. But, allowing gravity to do the work for you takes just a moment and leaves minimal glue behind on whatever got stuck. Then, you can set them free without worry. The little bit of residual glue gets even easier for them to clean when it gets a little dust in it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean you can dissolve the glue pretty easily with vegetable oil. The problem is that the bat will be trying to pull itself out of the trap the whole time it's stuck before you can free it and will injure itself in the process because they are very fragile. It even says in the post that they need time to heal afterwards.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I've freed mice, lizards, a few other things, even a baby rattlesnake this way. Never my own traps. But, yeah... a lot of times the vegetable oil thing just isn't an option. And, it seems much more difficult and traumatic for the animal. They freak out being handled by humans, as they should, honestly.

[–] Bondrewd -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Oh, traps in the wild! Anime fans are ready to roll.

[–] Zekas 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Bondrewd 0 points 1 year ago

You cant say that with a serious face slacking on lemmy

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

I prefer my glue in jars.. With a cute little Fluttershy figurine inside.