ok, so there is a bat in our house

[knowbody0]

im not kidding

[Maple]

1. Prop open the door

to the outside....and herd, by shutting internal doors, and using rooms with lights on...the bat to the outdoors.

They will fly towards the dark.

Barring that, I suggest a fishing net.

[knowbody0]

7. thankyou

[sandnsea]

2. Last week, one was in mine!!!

My husband caught it with a fishing net. We killed it, but you could probably let it loose outside if they don't freak you out too badly.

[newswolf56]

3. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH BATS behaving abnormally...

...because they are probably rabid. And -- yes -- a bat flying into a house is abnormal behavior. If bitten, try to preserve the bat so that it can be tested for rabies. Seek IMMEDIATE medical attention if bitten; inoculations must be begun forthwith. Rabies is ALWAYS fatal, and the ONLY prevention is the course of shots.

[Spinzonner]

11. Actually, a teenage girl was recently successfully treated

for rabies by a unique combination of therapies AFTER she showed symptoms. However, the treatment hasn't been codifed or proven through repetisions.

[Mairead]

15. You're somewhat misinformed, I'm happy to tell you

Rabies has become very rare and, while bats are now the chief reservoir for the virus in the US, the average number of deaths per year from all rabies sources these days is 3.

A bat flying into a house isn't abnormal at all. A bat flying into a solid object such as a wall, though, IS.

Many common bats such as Little Browns live in houses year round, so it's not really surprising if they find their way accidently into the human living areas once in a while. The best thing to do, if the bat seems healthy (is flying around, or roosting), is to let the bat sleep til nightfall if you first see it during the day, and then open doors and windows and gently - without trying to touch it - encourage it to leave.

Your points on how to deal with having been bitten are very well taken. Bat bites can be nearly painless, so it can be hard to tell whether you have been bitten without close scrutiny.

[praxiz]

4. This "Batman: The beginning"-promotion is really going too far.

[Up2Late]

5. Cool! How big is it?

I'd do the same thing as the poster above said, but add Loud Music.

But once it starts to fly, shut off the music, so it doesn't crash into a wall.

[knowbody0]

8. about the size of a robin

it went into my son's room. he's at camp. i opened the window, turned on the light, then shut the door.
Yikes!

[Bluerthanblue]

23. DONT Turn on the light-

if you can, turn OFF the light, and turn on a light outside- the bat is going to eat the bugs that the light attracts- probably why he came in in the first place-

We live in a farm house built in the late 1700's- Bats often come in the door with very little 'fanfare' following the moths, mosquitos-

Personally, i have an aversion to them, but they do the environmant a LOT of good- also, i disagree with the poster who poo-poo's the notion of rabies- here in New England, we DO often have bats test positive for rabies- A fishing net works ok, but the bats we have, and the net we have mean you have to move VERY FAST as the bats often slip through the holes in the net-
You can, as last resort, throw a towel over the bat when it is resting, or take 2 badminton raquets, or tennis raquets and GENTLY wedge him between them- if you can leave the window open in your sons room, and turn a light on outside, i'll bet he'll be gone in the am-

good luck= our cats (who live indoors all the time) go batshit when we get a visitor- and so, we HAVE to 'deal' with the bat asap for everyones sake-

[Gemini Cat]

6. I get bats all the time!

Nasty things.

Here is what I do:

1. Calm down.
2. Wait until bat finds a nice place to hang out. They always land.
3. Take a plastic coffee can with a couple of small holes in it and sneak up on bat.
4. Wait a minute.
5. Quickly and I do mean quickly, slam coffee can over bat.
6. Bat merrily shits itself.
7. Gently raise can about a half inch and slide either a thin book or the actual lid under the can.
8. Ignore how pissed off the bat is getting.
9. Hold tight the can with either lid or book on it.
10. Open door to house and release bat outside. (What I do is place can down and either open the lid a tad or slide the book a bit. Then I run like hell back inside.)
11. Congratulate yourself because you released the damned thing without killing it, but you may want to change your trousers.

Hope that helps.

[knowbody0]

9. no fucking way am i going to catch him

[ConsAreLiars]

10. Remember, most bats are vegans, or insectivorians at worst.

And they make nice pets. You have a great chance to impress your parrot-shouldered peers if you feed it well.

[Midlodemocrat]

25. I'm with you. I wouldn't go near it.

We haven't ever had the pleasure....:puke:
but if we did, I think I would call an expert.


Good luck to you.

[in_cog_ni_to]

20. LOL!

Damn...I'm in tears from laughing so hard! Funny post! :rofl:

[shanine]

12. We used to have bats

in the house when I was a kid. I remember my father putting a paper bag over his head with cut out eyes, gloved, and carrying a shovel? He always got 'em. Once though while my parents were out one came flying down the stairs so I ran to a small bathroom and screamed out the window - my neighbor came in and whacked it with a towel. Good luck!

[DFLer4edu]

13. I have a funny bat story

A friend of mine hosted a German exchange student for a school year. This happened pretty early in the year, so the exchange student's English wasn't perfect. He came downstairs for breakfast and my friend's dad asked him if he had slept well. He responded something to the toon of, "Last night, I woke up. There was a bat in my room." He had slept all night with the thing flying around his room. I don't remember how they got rid of it though, sorry.

[roguevalley]

14. I love bats. My nephew has three in his house-a family- that are

slightly bigger than postage stamps. They eat mosquitos like crazy. I think they are good luck. I love them.

[Sgent]

16. You may want to figure out where he normally lives

If you have bats in your roof they can do a lot of dmg. If you do, call an exterminator.

[Patiod]

26. Me too - I love sitting on the deck at dusk & watching them

I think they're kind of cute.

But I don't like any creature, even the dearest little birdies, getting in the house though. We have a squirrel who is always trying to get into the kitchen and occasionally does. Naturally, Miss Fearsome Feline just sits and watches it eat our bread.

[SoCalDem]

17. Wow.. free guano..Lucky you

:)

[slybacon9]

18. Open Door... Drink heavily

The bat will leave or you will pass out.

[Callalily]

19. Yeah, just open

a door or window, the bat will find it's way out. I too had a bat, and sad to tell you, if you've got one in the house, you have more. Call a bat exterminator - immediately. Here in Wisconsin, they are protected, so killing them is not an option.

[ewagner]

21. We used to get bats

in our 100+ year-old house in the North Woods of Wisconsin....

First time it happened, we went to the old neighbor for help/advice. He calmly walked away from his door and returned a few minutes later with a BADMITTEN RACQUET! He then sat on his front porch and lighted up his pipe, saying he was going to sit there and enjoy the screaming.

BTW: The Badmitten racquet worked well.

A few weeks later, I got a call at work from my wife who was in a panic. While making the bed in the Master bedroom, she discovered a live bat on the floor next to the bed. It SNARLED AT HER and just really freaked her out. She said she had placed a plastic wastepaper basket on top of it but it was flapping so much she had to weight it down with a book. I came home to dispose of the bat and when I saw that she had weighted down the wastepaper basket with a BIBLE I just cracked up. We used the technique of sliding a piece of cardboard under it to get the bat out of the house....

[PearliePoo2]

22. My sister's summer cabin

across the road from me is full of bats. It has a hand-split cedar shake roof that works like a giant bat brooder. When the young juvenile bats started to leave the roost they would find their way in to the house through cracks or tiny holes. The bat exterminator said a hole the size of a pencil can give them access! Because the bats were also seen in their bedroom, they were at risk for being bit. Their teeth are so small and sharp, you can be bitten while sleeping and not ever know it. The county health dept. wants any bats for testing and insist that if you have OR MAY HAVE had physical contact you get the series of shots just in case. The shots don't hurt but they are expensive. Fortunately, my sister and her husband have excellent insurance that picked up the cost. The exterminator caulked the entire house top to bottom and showed us where the bats were. They were everywhere. Under the siding,in cracks and crevices but mostly under the shake roof. There were several different species but the prevalent one was the little brown bat (size of a small finch).
The only remedy for them is an entire new roof, but the caulking so far has done the job of denying them access to the inside. But, you have to caulk everything and everywhere, keeping in mind the pencil idea. It's a huge job and takes time and can be expensive. The exterminator gave them a guarantee for a year. The incidence of rabies in this area (Washington State on the coast) is very low, but a young girl in the Mount Vernon area did get bitten and contracted rabies a few years ago. Any bat behaving unusual (as opposed to just being lost or trapped) should be taken to the health dept. for sure. A fishing net works great for catching them. Good luck.

[crispini]

24. ok, knowbody0, is there an update?

inquiring minds want to know!

[knowbody0]

31. well, thanks for asking

we believe the bat left. checked all the nooks and crannies, pulled off all the bedding, turned everything over. (im feeling bad about invading my son's privacy---found his magazines---XXX---plan to say nothing)

[Squeech]

27. Early season?

I get a bat or two every year, but it's usually the first week in August. Apparently bats roost in the eaves, and the youngsters like to go exploring, and get into the house through the cracks.

Bat behavior in the house is largely to fly around in circles, looking for the way out.

The first time it happened I sorta herded the bat into one bedroom, opened the windows (including screens) and closed the door. Within an hour (maybe less) he'd found the open window and used it.

By the next year, I had cats, and they took care of the matter. To a cat, a bat combines the most interesting features of mice and birds (except for that stringy tail, but you can't have everything). I remember one year, Nancy (1986-2002) squatting with a bat carcass under her paws, looking up at me like "Can you fix this? It was so much more fun before!"

I've also used towels to swat bats out of the air, or pluck them down off their perch (check the crown molding). I try to wrap them in the towel before bringing them outside, so they can't bite.

[greeneyedpookie]

28. You need LynneSin's kitty

she is a bat killer if I remember correctly from a year or two ago.

GEP

:bounce:

[Taverner]

29. Wait until dusk

Then open a window, and guide it out with a tennis racket gently.

But just wait until dusk, otherwise it will seriously panic

[Bullwinkle925]

30. Is it in the belfry?

[Debi]

32. And I thought it was bees in your brain....

Hello...Will Pitt?????