Reduced to a screaming girl

[NoNo]

I'm normally a pretty tough girl, and with the exception of spiders, I can handle most of nature's creatures. Last night my family was over, and while watching tv, I saw something out of the corner of my eye go from the spare room (to the left of the tv) to the kitchen. Then it came out of the kitchen and over our heads: a bat! I live in a 3 family house, have never seen a bat in the neighborhood, and at no point noticed this thing flying in.

Well, I was reduced to shrieking and cowering in the fetal position every time it swooped over me. Finally, when it flew into the kitchen I made a break for the spare room, closed the door, and went into my bedroom through the connecting door. It was under the guise of looking for a blanket to catch it, but I was really hiding Herded my cat onto the porch so she was safe, and opened some windows and doors. After a while we don't see it, but no one saw it fly out the window, either. We start banging everything, poking around, checking every crevice. No sign of the bat.

Family leaves, and it's me and my cat on the couch. Try to unwind before going to bed. 10:30PM: fwap fwap fwap! NO!! Where did it come from?! How did we not find it? I jumped up, launching Ruthie from me. She jumps behind the couch, neglecting her feline hunting duties. I put a blanket over my head, grab my phone, and manage to open a window. Turn around, and now I don't see the cat. I don't want her jumping out the window, and I want to close off rooms to trap the bat. Jump onto the porch and close the door so I can keep an eye on the window and make some calls. Landlord was no use, he'll send a guy tomorrow (today). Dad says I'll be there, just hide. I venture back into the living room to look for Ruthie. She's hiding under the table, and won't come out. Move a chair, she jumps to another one, tried giving her treats, tried grabbing her, but now she's hissing at me So I locked myself into the spare room and left her to fend for herself. At this point, I haven't seen the bat for a few minutes, so I tried getting Ruthie again. Wasn't having it, she just kept jumping around, hiding behind the couch, under chairs, and continually hissing at me. Finally dad showed up, mom helped coral Ruthie, I packed a back, and got the hell out of there. I'm the type that doesn't sleep well if I see a spider but can't reach it to kill it, I'm sure as hell NOT sleeping in a house with a bat flying around!

Both times it hid, I saw it go towards the kitchen, so it's there or in the pantry. I sure hope that guy finds it today. If I have to stay over my parents, I'm fine with that. We leave for Italy Friday, that bat can starve the next two weeks!

[tctrek]

I would be the same way!! As for your cat, she's just reacting to your fear. She can sense how afraid you are and she's smart enough to hide... even from you!!

I had a bat in my house 30 years ago. It was flying around buzzing our head. I whacked it with a broom and stunned it long enough that I could sweep it out the door. I watched it a minute and it flew away.

Don't know if he can live in your empty house for two weeks or not!

[OakLeaf]

Awwww. Bats are so helpful, and so many species are struggling right now! But I don't like having any flying thing, bird or bat, in my house either. They get so freaked out trying to find their way out.

[Flybye]

Sometimes they come in through the fireplace if the vent/damper/flue is left open.
My friend woke up and went to use the basement potty one morning. No glasses on her peepers just yet. She saw something on the INSIDE of the toilet rim. Retrieved her specs.......you guessed it - BAT!! She ended up netting it with her 3 year olds butterfly net
We have had one or two in the cabin from time to time. They are freaky because they don't fly in a predictable pattern. We have done the stun them with a broom thing and sweep them out the door.
Good luck!

[NoNo]

No fireplace, and I'm on the first floor of a 3 family, so you'd think it'd be on the third floor. No broom, either When dad came back, he brought a broom with him, but the bat had gone back into hiding. I don't care that they're insectivores, that it's just scared and lost, I don't like it! There's something so scary, so gross about them, especially inside your living space.

[Kalidurga]

I love bats. They eat the mosquitoes that would otherwise eat me.

[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.