Here’s our first glimpse of Fury, Eve’s pup, his tiny wing sticking up above her belly.
Eve the evening bat and her pup Fury the furious Night Fury
Eve came to us in a piece of firewood that had been standing dead timber on a ranch in Adamsville until 28 Jan 2016 when it was felled, limbed, cut into pieces, and run through a log splitter, revealing Eve uninjured in her tree cavity. The log was quickly taped back together and put in a box and brought to us by the landowners, by way of our good friend Ed Sones. Since she was missing fur in a circular pattern on her back, we swabbed and cultured for ringworm. Three weeks later the culture was negative so we just are giving her supportive care until she regrows the fur that will allow her to effectively thermo-regulate once she’s released to find a new roost.
Since she had a heating pad above her pup tent while undergoing treatment, she must have thought spring started in February, so consequently she gave birth to Fury on 05 April 2016, one of the first births in the country, at least the first one named after Toothless the Night Fury, star of How to Train Your Dragon (who, of course, was modeled after a baby evening bat).
Eve’s tree house that was cut for firewood
Fury grew quickly to 5.1 grams within a week of birth. His mum was very attentive and he reached 7 grams in three weeks.
Eve has since weaned little Fury, always a sketchy time in bat rehab. He did not like the formula we used and accepted it even less when we added blended mealworms to the mix. Thankfully, he is now transitioning to whole mealworms so it looks like he will soon get the hang of self-feeding.
Here’s their log, hung as a roost, and allowing Fury to leap out and practice flying when he gets the urge. They can come back and roost in the maternity pup tent (rigged to stay out of the way, below) if they like or return to Eve’s tree house if they feel like it. Last night, with the storms, they stayed in the tree house all night.
Eve & Fury’s tree house with new hinges and latch, The pup tent Fury was born in hung below
Flight school – Here’s Fury flapping like crazy to get back to the roost Fury’s first leap – flight school
This is the best motivation for young pups just figuring out what these wing things are for.