bat in my basement!

[pjrose]

We just caught a bat in our basement. It looked fairly large compared to the ones we have in our attic. They are about the size of a computer mouse or smaller, when "folded up", and this one was the size of an adult's hand (palm and fingers) when it was folded up. Perhaps it was Mommy or Daddy Bat? Or just Fat Bat? Or...eeek....Pregnant Bat?

S/he flew around for awhile and then settled on a wall. We popped a mesh laundry basket over batty, then slid some poster board along the wall to cover the basket, then very carefully walked up the stairs and outside before letting batty go. Batty was baring his/her teeth and clicking at us the entire time .

The ones in the attic aren't really IN the attic. They live between a screen and a soffit vent, on the outside wall. We don't really mind them, which is a good thing because the wildlife removal people I've consulted say it's virtually impossible to keep them from coming back. It's kind of fun to watch them fly around at night eating bugs.

Anyone else have bats in their basement? or belfry? or ???

 

[ownsmany]

eck.

I'm scared to death of bats.

 

[somerville]

Our daughter lives on Town Lake in Austin, TX. At dusk, you can see thousands of bats flying out from the Congress Street bridge. She found a dead one on her patio the other day. They do keep the bugs under control.

 

[IreneLF]

Never had any in the house, but saw a family of three fruit bats living in the woods (a house away ) for years. They always flew in the same paths at dusk. As long as they stayed there I found them interesting.

One day, during the day - my then 3 y.o. daughter was looking at our closed outdoor umbrella and said, "Mommy there was a mouse on the umbrella and it just flew away". I caught a quick glimpse and it was the little fruit bat.

We have some screens on the soffits/vents in the attic and over chimney flue pipe and that seems to prevent things from getting in.

 

[Glynda]

Bats

Just went through our second bat removal process (they ate through the first patch) in our attic in Charleston. Had to watch where they go in and come out early morning and at sunset, close up all but a small space and use a gadget that is made of chicken wire that allows them to come out but not go back in. After two weeks of watching and being sure all were out, we closed up the remaining hole, cleaned the nasty slime off the house (the odor of it draws them to the spot) and repainted the area. To hire someone to come inside and clean the guana, put down a parasite removal and an enzyme to remove the odor will cost $500-$800 and that doesn't guarantee that it will remove the odor. The odor of bats can permeate a house. I didn't know that...just thought I had an old house smell that I couldn't get rid of. Then an engineer who specializes in these old houses came in and took a sniff and told me I have bats. The wildlife people told me the same.

I love that they eat mosquitos but hate having them in the attic!!!!!!

 

[Glynda]

Another bat story...

Another bat story. One morning I stepped out of the shower, started drying the front of my body with my towel and a bat fell out of the side against my body and hit the floor at my feet. Hubby took him outside and he lay there for a while and when prodded finally flew away. When I had opened up the house a few days before, after having been away, I noticed droppings on the kitchen window sill. I thought mice but could find no other sign of them. After the towel incident, hubby told me that during my sleep the night before I had been waving my hands around in the air in front of my face saying "Go away." Apparently the bat had been in the house some time and finally, exhausted, clung to the back side of the towel I picked up. He must have come down the chimney or found a way into the house from the attic.
Yech.

 

[Ann-Marie]

Don't you have to be very careful if they are in your house because of the threat of rabies? I know somwone that killed a bat in their house, and had to go through a series of rabies vaccines because they threw the bat out instead of having it tested.

 

[Steamboat Bill]

Bat Benefits

* A colony of big brown bats can eat 18 million cucumber beetles.
* Plants such as bananas, mangoes, cashews, dates and figs rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal.
* Tequila is produced from agave plants. Seed production drops to 1/3000 of normal without bat pollinators.
* Nectar-feeding bats are primary pollinators of giant cacti such as the organ pipe and saguaro.
* Bat droppings (guano) support entire ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents and producing gasohol and antibiotics.

 

[JoAnn]

Our DS rented an old, two story house when we all lived in Ohio. One day he called and said he had been sleep when something whizzed right over his head a couple of times. Scarred him, of course, but he finally saw the bat. He wanted to get rid of it. Did some searching and found he could just keep a window open and the bat would find its way out. It did and DS never saw one again. At least he had some excitement for awhile.

 

[CarlK]

... use a gadget that is made of chicken wire that allows them to come out but not go back in.

Sounds like an interesting product that might be good to know about in advance -- just in case. Do you have more info on it -- name, where bought, etc.? Thanks!

 

[Rose Pink]

Don't you have to be very careful if they are in your house because of the threat of rabies? I know somwone that killed a bat in their house, and had to go through a series of rabies vaccines because they threw the bat out instead of having it tested.

I found a dead one by my back door (outside) and called animal control to see if I needed to bring it in for testing. They said to just throw it in the garbage and didn't seem to care at all about possible disease. Apparently, rabies is not a common thing although a definite possibility.

 

[Glynda]

Gadget...

Sounds like an interesting product that might be good to know about in advance -- just in case. Do you have more info on it -- name, where bought, etc.? Thanks!

I don't. Our roofer did the repairs and removal. I have a picture of it, but I've yet to figure out how to add a picture to posts.

 

[Aussiedog]

I found a dead one by my back door (outside) and called animal control to see if I needed to bring it in for testing. They said to just throw it in the garbage and didn't seem to care at all about possible disease. Apparently, rabies is not a common thing although a definite possibility.

In my county if you report a bat in your house everyone gets the rabies shots unless you catch and test the bat! We are having quite a time with rabies in central North Carolina.

Ann

 

[Rose Pink]

In my county if you report a bat in your house everyone gets the rabies shots unless you catch and test the bat! We are having quite a time with rabies in central North Carolina.

Ann

I wonder if it is a regional thing.

 

[easyrider]

In Washington, 20% of all bats tested positive for rabies. That's a lot of sick bats. In Washington, there have been deaths from rabies from slight contact with a sick bat. One case involved a youth who had a bat in the bedroom but no apparent bite marks.

I had a bat land on my chest one evening and ended up with the health department advising me to get the rabies vaccine. Our health department had the vaccine sent to the emergency room at the hospital because of the intervals needed to complete the vaccine process. My doctor couldn't accommodate the vaccine schedule.

When my medical insurance received the bills for the vaccine they denied payment because rabies vaccine wasn't covered unless I had rabies. Should you show symptoms of rabies your probably going to die. They did finally pay.

Bats are fun to watch but can be a real pain if they get to close. The rabies vaccine isn't pain full as its now a human serum and you get it in the arm. However, the gamagoblin shots, in the two inch big bore needle, driven into your lower back will make you scream.

 

[Rose Pink]

Wow, another thing for me to worry about. I stopped being concerned about bat rabies when I heard something on the television about it (years ago) not being a big problem and because animal control didn't seem concerned. Now I think I will be a little more vigilent. Of course, if 20% have rabies, 80% don't. 20% still seems uncomfortably high. I wonder how this compares to rabies in other wildlife populations such as raccoons, for example.