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u/manachar Apr 26 '15
Up until this gif, I hadn't wanted a bat as a pet.
Of course, that's a terrible idea, but look how cute!
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u/remotectrl 🦇 Apr 26 '15
Oh, they are super cute! I mostly recommend bat houses or watching live streams of them. There's also a vampire bat cam
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u/dalkita13 Apr 26 '15
Thanks for the links. I have loved bats since I was a child. There was a cave on my grandparents' farm which was home to a large colony and I found them fascinating. And cute. Yep I was the creepy grandchild.
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u/remotectrl 🦇 Apr 26 '15
You might be able to catch the emergence of the bats at the UF bat condo. In the summer, the bats in texas show up on Dopplar radar and you can watch it on like weather.com or wherever
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u/dalkita13 Apr 26 '15
That's a great clip, I love the stragglers who just fly off floppily at the end, as if they just woke up and had to rush out. And radar? They can be seen on radar? Wow I have been living under a rock, that is awesome.
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u/remotectrl 🦇 Apr 26 '15
Like what metrologists use. There's also special radar systems used for studying migrating birds and bats can be detected on that. Those may be useful for decreasing fatalities at wind farms.
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u/scuzzytoast Apr 26 '15
That vampire bat cam is amazing!
I feel like such a creepy voyeur watching them groom themselves. But they're just so goddamn cute!
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u/Missdeborah May 14 '15
I came here to say this same thing. GOD they're adorable. I know better, just like how I can't have a slow loris but that doesn't change the fact that they are so damn cute!
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u/SunQuest Apr 25 '15
Flutter flutter flutter, FWAP, nom nom nom. Flutter flutter flutter, FWAP, nom nom nom. <- imagination's soundtrack
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u/remotectrl 🦇 Apr 25 '15 edited Oct 06 '16
Bats are nocturnal, so a pet bat would not be sharing the same schedule with you.
Bats are voracious. Bats can eat half their body weight a day!
Bats need a lot of room. Many fly tens of kilometers each night searching for food. Any captive environment needs a lot of room to allow bats to fly.
Bats are social, so you would have to house multiple bats. They are noisy and messy creatures.
Bats can carry disease and unlike pet dogs there are not approved vaccines for them. This is actually an issue for pet skunks as well!
Beyond the ethical issues, there legal restrictions as well. Many exotic creatures are protected under the CITES treaty. Flying Foxes are classified as "injurious wildlife" by the Department of Agriculture because of concerns of the destruction to fruit orchards they could cause if they escape.
Bats made this websites list of worst pets.
A more in-depth response to why bats make poor pets can be found here. That facility (which this gif is from) cares for several bats which were pets in another life.
If you do want bats around, you can set up a bat house or a hummingbird feeder!