What Are The Symptoms Of A Sick Bat?

What are the signs of an unhealthy bat?

We frequently think about the infectious diseases that bats carry and how perilous they are to the overall health of humans.Bats carry the rabies virus and various types of dangerous parasites that make it a serious health risk to humans if an infected animal gets in your house. What you may naturally overlook is that the bats’ immune systems are not completely immune to the same infectious diseases, and therefore, they are affected by the same conditions and eventually die.

So, how do you identify a sick bat?

Just as you don’t want to come into contact with bat guano and avoid the Histoplasma capsulatum fungi, you should be even more careful not to come across a sick bat. There is a very high likelihood of you getting sick if you do get bitten or scratched by an infected bat.

But how do you know the difference between healthy bats and infected bats? You will be surprised that this can be more apparent than you ever thought.

Start with the most obvious thing. A healthy bat is naturally nocturnal, meaning that it is active during the night. Therefore, instinctually, they only come out during the night because their hearing, sensing, smelling and sonar senses work extremely well at night giving them a significant advantage over other animals.

This means if you see a bat out during the day, then there is something seriously wrong with it; its brain must not be working right. If you see one out during the day, it means that it is severely ill and it could be carrying rabies, a rabid bat is a huge health risk to humans; avoid it.

One of the more mild symptoms, the flight pattern of the little brown bat can also tell you when it is ill. A bat that flies in no direction has a problem.

If you notice that the bat is over aggressive, something may not be okay. Naturally, they are aggressive when attacking small creatures for food or when defending themselves from their predators. If you find a bat too aggressive and it strikes you and your pets for no good reason, avoid it at all costs. If you encounter bats, it is best to call wildlife removal to have the bats removed and avoid the chances of contracting the rabies infection.

Still, if a bat is on the ground and cannot fly, that bat is sick.