Keeping Bats in Captivity

During the past ten years the writer, assisted by Mary Louise Perry, Berta B. Kessel and Jacqueline Schonewald, has been keeping bats in captivity for purposes of study. As a result, certain techniques have been developed which may be of use to others who find it necessary to maintain these animals for research. Several hundred bats representing 12 species were kept for periods varying from months to years. The species involved were: little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus), Yuma myotis (M. yumanensis), fringed myotis (M. thysanodes), Indiana myotis (M. sodalis), California myotis (M. californicus), Mexican fish-eating bat (Pizonyx vivesi), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), red bat (Lasiurus borealis), hoary bat (L. cinereus), western lump-nosed bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii), pallid bat (Antrozous pallidus) and Mexican free-tail bat (Tadarida mexicana)....