Reduced to a screaming girl

[Aggie_Ama]

Have your landlord check if there is an urban wildlife specialist he can call. They specialize in catching critters like your problem. I am terrified of bats with my animals because of the rabies and they are so fast! Is your cat up to date? Even if it isn't rabid bat guano is stinky so I would want it gone!

[Zen]

Herded my cat onto the porch so she was safe,

What did you think the little bat was going to do? Swoop in and snatch her up? Latch on to her jugular, suck her blood and turn her into a vampire?

[NoNo]

What did you think the little bat was going to do? Swoop in and snatch her up? Latch on to her jugular, suck her blood and turn her into a vampire?

I have no way of knowing if this thing is carrying any kind of disease, and with all the doors and windows open, I didn't want my baby running out. Also one less thing for us to dodge.

[Zen]

[Tuckervill]

No worries about rabies if your cat is vaccinated.

I think it'd be pretty cool to have a bat in the house. We've had plenty of birds, some brought in by the cats and some find their way in alone. I think a bat would go outside at night if you turned on every single light in the house and opened the doors to the darkness. Same with birds, only opposite. At aviaries, they keep the birds in open cages by using a "curtain of darkness". The birds rarely fly into where the humans are because it's dark in there.

I had a little squirrel in my empty pool the other day! Put the ladder back in and he high-tailed it out of there!

Karen

[withm]

Growing up I lived in a house where bats inside were a regular occurence in most of the houses on the street one summer. The preferred method was to swat them with a tennis racket, or even better, with (groan)a bat-minton (LOL) racket. Actually the latter being lighter made for a better tool. The impact would stun the bat, and it could quickly be scooped up into a wastebasket, and set free outside.

I remember one summer when my Dad removed a sign from the house that had our name and house number, and bats flew out from behind it for some time. Hundreds probably.

[tctrek]

As I think back on the time 30 years ago when I had a bat in my house and stunned it with a broom, I recalled some other details... it was Christmas and the tree was up. My daughter had gotten a Suzy Homemaker housekeeping set... I'll admit I wanted my 6 year old to start thinking about cleaning house with me Anyway, I grabbed the little pink Suzy Homemaker broom and swung it over my head to keep the bat off my head. LOL... I was kinda panic'd. I hit it and it landed in a living room chair and squirmed down into the cushions. We could hear it in there making a loud buzzing sound like a big bumble bee. We picked up the entire chair and took it outside and whipped off the cushions and watched him fly away.

Amazing, I can't remember what I ate for breakfast, but that day from 30 years ago is clear as a bell!!

[TsPoet]

Growing up I lived in a house where bats inside were a regular occurence in most of the houses on the street one summer. The preferred method was to swat them with a tennis racket, or even better, with (groan)a bat-minton (LOL) racket. Actually the latter being lighter made for a better tool. The impact would stun the bat, and it could quickly be scooped up into a wastebasket, and set free outside.

Growing up in Santa Fe, we would get bats in the house a couple of times/year. We'd just catch it in a bird net and let it go outside.
Bats are good, they eat insects.
You can buy a bird net at a petstore.

[andtckrtoo]

Oh, this is making me laugh. My parents had just moved into their post and beam house in Huntingdon, PA when I came home from college for a visit. I was sleeping in my room when I felt something in my hair. I sat up suddenly and heard a whoosh, whoosh, but couldn't figure it out. I was about to ignore it and go back to sleep when I heard a commotion downstairs. I got up and checked it out - the two cats where having a field day chasing after a bat! So, of course, being the brave, independent woman that I am, I ran upstairs and woke up my dad.

I will forever have burned into my memory the sight of my poor, loving father, running around in garden gloves, a big ole crab net and his tighty whities, chasing after this bat like some kind of demented super hero. He did catch it and let it outside to fly free. We eventually found a small hole in the foundation where the bat got in (they can squeeze in a spot less than 2 inches wide) and filled it in and never had another bat visitor.

[Zen]

I can't decide which is more hilarious, this one-

I grabbed the little pink Suzy Homemaker broom and swung it over my head to keep the bat off my head.
Amazing, I can't remember what I ate for breakfast, but that day from 30 years ago is clear as a bell!!

or this one-

I will forever have burned into my memory the sight of my poor, loving father, running around in garden gloves, a big ole crab net and his tighty whities, chasing after this bat like some kind of demented super hero.

[Iris616]

I needed a good laugh tonight! Thanks.

[TsPoet]

I needed a good laugh tonight! Thanks.

I can't remember who originally posted this.
I think her bra size is more amazing than that there was a bat in it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...lk/7496923.stm

[Biciclista]

you guys are a riot.
people who react like that to bats (or snakes, or cats, or mice, or spiders)
aren't going to change just because we tell them rational things. this kind of fear is irrational.
But i really hope the guy finds the poor thing before it dies.

[kenyonchris]

well, you could always to what a lot of people do when they have an unwanted critter....call the police. I don't know what people expect of me...to handcuff the little critter? Or wingcuff him? I can't SHOOT him, for heaven's sake.
My city is pretty urban, but we do have some cows. I would rather deal with the bat than with cows. They smell fear (and yes, I am a horse person...horses I am in, cows, I am out) and capitalize upon it. I got called to some escaped cows and arrived to find about four of the big bovines wandering amongst a neighborhood. It seems that someone installing a pool had removed the back fence that kept a pasture full of cows contained. The cows found the entrance to the neighborhood and made a break for it. I attempted to shoo the cows back through the opening (they were about two houses down) but only managed to move them onto the neighbor's front porch, where they amused themselves by alternately peeking in the windows and eating from the planters. I felt I had to do something, so I took out my ASP baton, shook it at them, and said, "Ya'll git." in my best Texas accent, so that maybe they would be fooled. They weren't. They led me on a chase of about three square miles that included a schoolyard, a library, and an Old Folks' home in addition to the neighborhood. The guys on my shift gleefully listened to my radio traffic, "Uh, central, I need a little backup here, the cattle are now hightailing it south toward Main Street..." before finally coming to lend me a hand.
Give me a bat any day.

[salsabike]

Love that story, Chris. "Ya'll GIT."