Saskia (Sassi) is a baby flying-fox, about 6 weeks old, who was part of a mass abandonment of babies in the Shoalhaven area.
She’s come to me for about 4-5 weeks till she’s old enough to be mini-creched back in the Shoalhaven.
She is a snuggle bunny and has the cutest little lick button. If I pet the back of her head she licks. I think they have amazing tongues.
Sassi is doing really well and adapting to being in care with the others.
When the hand raised babies are 3 months old, they go into a creche, where they join other orphans and form a group. They learn batty etiquette and how to live in a batty society. They shrug off their human mums and want to be with the other batties. When they are emotionally and physically ready, and uninjured, and around 4-5 months old, they’re put into a release cage under a colony and they can integrate into the colony and fly out with the wild bats. If they can’t find enough food, they can always come back to the cage for a feed. Support feeding is put up on the outside of the cage for as long as they are coming back and eating it. When the colony flies out for winter, they have fully integrated and fly out with them.
