Well back in 2010 this blog was set-up to document the development of a noctule pup that was born in captivity.
On Friday of last week I had a panicked call from Simon (the main bat carer for Beds).
He had been over-wintering a female noctule that was found in a tree, in all likelihood she was going to be pregnant, however the hope was that she would be fit enough for release before this occurred.
Well it turns out that this is not the case and she gave birth to a male pup on Friday, below is the email that has been sent to the group:
Dear all,
A little bit of news for you (being the bat care team and all that). Most of you are aware of the captive Noctule we have which is overwintering until the weather cheers up. This young lady was found in a tree that had come down in December.. When found, she was only half the weight she should be and Jan Ragg/Colin Edwards were straight on the case of feeding her up. She would have almost certainly died if the tree had NOT come down! She was passed to me shortly afterwards (as she was from Millbrook).
Fairly quickly, she put on weight and seemed quite content (though grumpy for a Noctule).
I’ll get to the point….Last Friday (8th March) I got her out in the afternoon to give her a feed before work. To my complete shock, when I looked in I was met with a bat much smaller than our female. Yes, she had given birth. I knew the likelihood was that she would be pregnant, but a baby in early March…..slightly concerning (not to mention ‘dejavu’ for the Beds bat group for out last captive Noctule). When I first saw the pup (a male), he was on his own on one side of the inside towel and mum was the other end on the opposite side. Thankfully, after a good feed and a massive drink, mum soon got baby to attach and so far…both appear to be doing fine.
As soon as I get a chance, when mum kicks baby (now named ‘bobby’ by my daughter) off for a while I’ll weigh them both. I have had a clear view of the Pup’s abdomen and I can see milk patches so at the moment, I’m happy he is feeding. They will both need close monitoring but as a group, we need to work out how/where they are going to be released. It’s a long way off at the moment but unlike our last mum and pup, mum can be released too.
Will keep you updated with some proper pics/weights etc. I thought the birth of my son last month was going to be the last baby we had in the house!
So this means that this year there is likely to be the storey of Bedfordshires second noctule born in captivity.
So far the pup is doing well and mum is doing a fine job of feeding and looking after him.
As and when there is more news I will get an update on here.
Martin
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