# Keeping a bat as a pet



## beefa270 (May 28, 2009)

Team,

Can I get a bat as a pet, my fiance loves bats like no other animal, Can you legally keep them as a pet?

I suspect no !


----------



## webcol (May 28, 2009)

Not sure about legality but don't bats have bad diseases?


----------



## Rocket (May 28, 2009)

I have discussed this with the FPU SA and it seems Flying Foxes can be privately kept under the Class 3 category but it seemed quite clear they weren't a fan of allowing people to keep smaller and more specialised species such as microbats etc which seem to be the ones that carry viruses....

Correct me if i'm wrong but this is what I was told. Again, this is only valid for South Australians...


----------



## Kirby (May 28, 2009)

Sure, if you want to die. 

Bats have diseases.


----------



## ShaunMorelia (May 28, 2009)

If its native and not on the native species list you wont be able to keep them in NSW.


----------



## Snake Catcher Victoria (May 28, 2009)

If you join a wildlife organisation and volunteer to be a carer you may get to look after injured and orphan bats.
If you can show that you have done your research and can provide adequate care and housing you might find yourself caring for the guys.
Its the fruitbats that mainly carry the virus and you will need to have your shot before thinking about bat care.
Cheers


----------



## ravan (May 28, 2009)

as snakeman said, you could join an organisation to care for them 
check out www.batrescue.org.au for more info


----------



## chondrogreen (May 28, 2009)

I was a carer of flying foxs.
They are awsome fun. You really have to bond with & nurture the little guys and they don't get imprinted like birds etc.

But why would you want to keep one permantly?
They live in colonies & fly some distance of a nighttime. It would be cruel to take that away from them IMO


----------



## wiz-fiz (May 28, 2009)

even though our government says we don't have rabies, we have bat licervirus, witch is basicaly rabies, from my understanding.


Will


----------



## Noongato (May 28, 2009)

Bah, im sure they arnt all diseased, be just another animal myth... If they were than the species would be extinct wouldnt it?


----------



## chondrogreen (May 28, 2009)

Better safe then sorry.
There has been fatalities recorded in Aus from Lysavirus. 
I know I would want my shots up to date before risking a bite or scratch from one.


----------



## Herc (May 28, 2009)

The only way in NSW you can legally keep them is if your an exihibitor with the appropriate licence from DPI


----------



## Noongato (May 28, 2009)

I worry more about being pee'd on by the fruit bats as they fly overhead... Man that many bats pooing in one area is pretty gross!


----------



## moosenoose (May 28, 2009)

Kirby said:


> Sure, if you want to die.
> 
> Bats have diseases.




Is that your professional opinion?? lol


----------



## mysnakesau (May 28, 2009)

willia6 said:


> even though our government says we don't have rabies, we have bat licervirus, witch is basicaly rabies, from my understanding.
> Will



You're quite right, but we vaccinations available which will protect you from them. It costs about $300 for it unless you go to the doctor with a scratch or bite on you and tell them a bat did it, you'll get the vaccine for free.

There absolutely nothing to be afraid of, caring for bats. Brown snakes have more reported cases of bites than bats.


----------



## borntobnude (May 28, 2009)

why not keep a cute little flying fox , if the screeching all night dont keep you awake you can use the poo\guano as paint remover


----------



## Kirby (May 28, 2009)

moosenoose said:


> Is that your professional opinion?? lol



Yes, what are you here for...? need a prescription or something?


----------



## mysnakesau (May 28, 2009)

borntobnude said:


> why not keep a cute little flying fox , if the screeching all night dont keep you awake you can use the poo\guano as paint remover



Still need the vaccine. They can carry the disease, too.


----------



## pythonmum (May 30, 2009)

I raised an orphaned flying fox back before lyssavirus hit Oz. They are lovely, engaging little creatures, but we were happy to give them back to the wildlife carers when they started urine bathing. (My flatmate had one, too.) If you really want one, get the vaccine series and get into wildlife rescue. They are social animals and need company. Microbats (the small, insectivorous ones) are not as interactive and are harder to feed. Flying foxes are social and visual, so easy for humans to relate to.


----------



## JasonL (May 30, 2009)

midnightserval said:


> I worry more about being pee'd on by the fruit bats as they fly overhead... Man that many bats pooing in one area is pretty gross!



Bats don't urinate / deficate in flight so no need to worry.


----------



## DanTheMan (May 30, 2009)

Kirby said:


> Sure, if you want to die.
> 
> Bats have diseases.


 
And snakes have venom.

Become a wildlife carer and youll get plenty for short term im sure, although im not sure what hte deal with that is in nsw.


----------



## Emmalicious (May 31, 2009)

yeah bat bites can really turn out bad for ya!


----------



## jordo (May 31, 2009)

Kirby said:


> Sure, if you want to die.
> 
> Bats have diseases.


Always good for a laugh :lol:



chondrogreen said:


> Better safe then sorry.
> There has been fatalities recorded in Aus from Lysavirus.
> I know I would want my shots up to date before risking a bite or scratch from one.



Haven't there only been 2 or 3 recorded fatalities from lyssavirus over a decade ago?
I've been bitten by a few microbats, one bite even broke the skin and I'm still alive! 
Having said that, they rarely bite in the first place so the risk is very small (but still a risk I guess).

And to stick to the original topic I don't think they'd make great pets for all the obvious reasons people have mentioned.


----------



## Kitah (Jun 1, 2009)

I've just had a lecture on wildlife diseases, which included bats (as you would expect). Bats do carry Australian Bat Lyssavirus (closely related to the rabies virus), amongst other things. Just be aware though that the virus can be transmitted from a bite, though it can also be transmitted to humans via scratches, infected saliva or bat body fluid contact with broken skin (Say during a post mortem, which you wouldn't be doing anyway). They rekon the prevalence/occurance of lyssa in Aus is less than 1% in the total bat population, though of the sick, injured or rescued bats up to 62% of the bats are actually infected- thats just because the infected bats may be on the ground etc, easy to catch, may be partially paralysed etc so easy to pick up. 

I personally don't think they should be kept as pets.. each to their own though I suppose


----------



## Radar (Jun 1, 2009)

mysnakesau said:


> It costs about $300 for it unless you go to the doctor with a scratch or bite on you and tell them a bat did it, you'll get the vaccine for free.
> .



While Im not telling you NOT to go down this path, be aware that the post exposure shots can really mess you up for a little while (read "a couple of weeks" afterwards). It may be worth paying the $300 to have a functioning brain and not be totally lethargic for a few weeks afterwards. I hear stabbing yourself with a fork a couple of time is sufficient, though.... :lol:


----------



## JasonL (Jun 1, 2009)

jordo said:


> Haven't there only been 2 or 3 recorded fatalities from lyssavirus over a decade ago?
> .



Yes, 2 I think, one from a micro and one from a Flying Fox... but considering the vasy magority of the community doesn't come into contact with bats, and very few people are actually bitten on a regular basis, it's hard to estimate the chance of getting this disease.... I'd for one would opt for the $300 injection before handling them.


----------



## moosenoose (Jun 1, 2009)

Kirby said:


> Yes, what are you here for...? need a prescription or something?



Depends how good the stuff is that you're prescribing 

So....even captive bred bats contain life-threatening diseases?? errrr how?

If that's the case we all better start burning our snakes because we now have self-mutating diseases that pop up out of nowhere :lol:

I think the question was, can you keep them as pets, and maybe if so, if there are captive bred ones. I'm sure we all know taking stuff from the wild is illegal and most native animals are protected. So surely we're talking about captive bred animals????


----------



## Whimsey (Jun 1, 2009)

It's not a myth about the flying foxes being carriers of a potentially fatal disease. When I lived in Sydney a WIRES guy asked me to help support a mother flying fox that had her wing membranes caught in barbed wire. Just before she was released from the barbed wire the elbow claw scratched the back of my hand and drew a small amount of blood. The WIRES guy said to me "you better get to a doctor and tell him what happened". I rang a friend who is a vet and asked him what the chances were of me being infected. I told him I wasn't bitten by her only scratched but I was told it didn't matter. He told me to go to the doctor immediately, the Lessa virus is deadly. My doctor had to inform the Health Department and the Rabies vaccine was couriered to the doctor's office, I wasn't allowed to leave. I had to have 6 injections that first day with may more injections to follow on a very strict timetable. I don't know if the vaccine is different now as this happened about 8 years ago.

I'd still help out again if needed. The only pain was after the injections I couldn't give blood for just over 2 years.

Just be aware and do some research. Contact rescue groups and see what advice they can give you.


----------



## mebebrian (Jun 1, 2009)

Crickey... I reckon you should just buy him a Poster of a bat and a Batman DVD. Unless of course he loves pain as much as he loves bats then, go for it!


----------



## pythonmum (Jun 1, 2009)

Whimsey said:


> My doctor had to inform the Health Department and the Rabies vaccine was couriered to the doctor's office, I wasn't allowed to leave. I had to have 6 injections that first day with may more injections to follow on a very strict timetable. I don't know if the vaccine is different now as this happened about 8 years ago.
> 
> I'd still help out again if needed. The only pain was after the injections I couldn't give blood for just over 2 years.


The vaccine is very different from the treatment afterwards. I had the rabies vaccine (preventative) in the USA because I was doing capture and release studies of rabbits and tended to get racoon, opossum and skunk as well. The vaccine is a subcutaneous injection series - about 3 or 4. I think it was expensive, but my Uni paid as part of OH&S. Afterwards you are supposed to get your antibody levels tested regularly to see if you need a booster. I moved here and didn't bother, but if I was getting into wildlife rescue or bat keeping, I'd certainly do so.


----------



## moosenoose (Jun 1, 2009)

So again I'm asking the question: Do captive bats wake up one morning with rabies and the like??? :lol: Because of course we're talking about collecting wild bats and keeping them as pets??? Aren't we?? There is no such thing as a captive bred bat?? 8)


----------



## JasonL (Jun 2, 2009)

moosenoose said:


> So again I'm asking the question: Do captive bats wake up one morning with rabies and the like??? :lol: Because of course we're talking about collecting wild bats and keeping them as pets??? Aren't we?? There is no such thing as a captive bred bat?? 8)



Most pet bats (exhibitors animals) are wild caught un releasables through wildlife care groups, torn / broken wings from Barbed Wire fences ect..


----------



## TCxxx (Sep 3, 2009)

ravan said:


> as snakeman said, you could join an organisation to care for them
> check out www.batrescue.org.au for more info


 


Thank-you for the link. Ive wondered for quite a while, what's involved in being able to keep bats!! OMG! :shock: Rabies shots??? :shock:


----------



## moosenoose (Sep 3, 2009)

JasonL said:


> Most pet bats (exhibitors animals) are wild caught un releasables through wildlife care groups, torn / broken wings from Barbed Wire fences ect..



But surely people with pairs of "unreleasable" bats would try and breed them? Unless there is legislation in place preventing that sort of thing happening?

I guess I've NEVER seen any for sale, and they certainly aren't listed for the average keeper. So I guess you can't keep them at all  The End.....unless you're a wildlife carer


----------



## mysnakesau (Sep 4, 2009)

moosenoose said:


> So again I'm asking the question: Do captive bats wake up one morning with rabies and the like??? :lol: ........)



I guess it's possible. Carriers usually are not affected but can spread a disease. But of course there have been reports of a virus turning on its host. Never know...get the vaccine and you'll be fine.


----------

