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.

[Thorn]

Totally agree on the importance of bats to the environment, but please be careful when catching the bat. In some areas of the country, the prevelance of rabies in bats is very high (>50%).

Unlike a mouse (where the rabies rate is low to non-existance), a bat in the house isn't a nuisance, it can be very dangerous if you get accidentally bit.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

A bat came into our living room last year through the fireplace.
It was squeaking under the coffee table, with 3 cats watching cautiously but keeping their distance.
I just tossed a towel over it and gently picked it up, opened the towel outside and it flew off into the night. No screaming was involved, not even from the bat.

[sfa]

I love bats--I like how they look all curled up when they are sleeping, and it makes me happy to see them flying around my backyard eating all the damn mosquitoes that plague me and make it nearly impossible to go outside all of late June and July. But I don't think I'd like one in my house. I've heard pool skimmers are good for catching them.

Good luck!

Sarah

[wackyjacky1]

In one apartment that I lived in years ago, bats would come in through the air conditioning system that was located on the roof. The landlord finally blocked off whatever access point was there. But it's mighty creepy to see a bat crawl through an air conditoning vent while you're at the dinner table! We were able to catch that one in a towel and release it outside. I also found one during the day while I was vacuuming (same apartment). It was hiding behind a picture that I had leaning against the wall (I hadn't hung it up yet). I moved the picture to vacuum behind it and saw what I thought was a leaf on the floor. Being nearsighted, I got real close to see for sure what it was -- BAT! It was sleeping because it was daytime. I put a bucket over it, slid some cardboard underneath, and carried the whole thing outside. The darkness from being under the bucket woke it up, so it flew away once I let it go. I did not enjoy either experience at all!

[Possegal]

My mother had one come into her apartment several times (well not sure it was the same one). Several times she called the local police who came and tried to get it out. One time successfully using an old paint can. That one had paint on its wing so we don't think it was always the same bat. Another time the cop wasn't successful and Mum said that everytime he opened a cabinet door or something, he'd scream if he thought he saw it. That alone was worth it to her, she got a good laugh. Another time I was home and my Uncle was visiting. Mum and I were screaming like idiots everytime we tried to venture out of her bedroom. My Uncle never came out of the room. Next morning we tell him the story, turns out he was awake and heard the screaming, but thought it was the neighbors.

I appreciate their importance, but I too do not want bats in my home. Neither did our cat.

[Cataboo]

Bat populations are threatened enough with white nose bat disease lately.

These websites have suggestions that might help:
http://www.howtodothings.com/home-ga...-of-your-house

http://www.batconservation.org/conte...sflyinginhouse


I had an apartment in an old 1850's house once - the landlord was a bit of a slumlord and wasn't very good at maintaining or fixing anything (sweet man, but overworked). The bathroom ceiling was missing the light cover and a couple of the ceiling panels. One day I was taking a shower, and a bird burst out of the ceiling and started flying panicky around the bathroom.

I'm naked & soaking wet and completely freaked by the bird, of course run out of the shower & the bathroom & close the door to trap the bird in there. I turned off all the lights in the place, covered all the windows (and myself!), opened the front door to the apartment, turned on the lights in the stairwell & hallway, opened all those windows & the front door...

And then opened the door to let the bird out of the bathroom - it thankfully followed the light out into the hallway...

At which point, I locked up and went back to taking a shower figuring the bird had several ways out and would manage.


the landlord laughed when he heard the story & told me all about how birds were a good omen and something great was going to happen to me...

Guess what happens a week later?

Another bird flies out of the bathroom ceiling....

I was not amused at my continuing good fortune.

[nolemom]

When I was expecting my first child, I went a little crazy with the advance preparations. I had the entire nursery set up months before the due date. A bat got into the house and went straight for the nursery. The bat seemed to be hypnotized by the ceiling fan and proceeded to go round and round. As my husband attempted to get him down with a broom, the bat began to spew bat poop all over the room. It splattered the crib, bassinet, all four walls, etc. I finally understood the term going bat#&IT on someone - I probably sounded like a crazy woman when I called the landlord.

[NoNo]

When I was expecting my first child, I went a little crazy with the advance preparations. I had the entire nursery set up months before the due date. A bat got into the house and went straight for the nursery. The bat seemed to be hypnotized by the ceiling fan and proceeded to go round and round. As my husband attempted to get him down with a broom, the bat began to spew bat poop all over the room. It splattered the crib, bassinet, all four walls, etc. I finally understood the term going bat#&IT on someone - I probably sounded like a crazy woman when I called the landlord.

I'm very curious as to where it's hanging out and whether there will be a pile of poo waiting for me when I come back. The thought of disease, rabies or otherwise, was definitely a concern, and one of the main reasons I was trying to corral my cat into a safe place.

Landlord called this morning singing the Batman theme He said he'll call his guy, but he has no idea how to get this thing to come out. He said maybe there's some kind of trap that can be set to catch it. I told him they can come tonight when it would be out if they wanted, I certainly wouldn't be there!

[GLC1968]

I've had a bat or two in most of the houses I've ever lived in! A tennis raquet is a really good tool for stunning them (better swing than you get with a broom).

Here's a freaky story that may make you feel better about a single bat.

When I lived in the Poconos, I was renting an old house. I moved there in Feb and the first weekend we had a major snow storm. I could feel cold air coming in and discovered that some of the attic windows were missing. My boyfriend went to investigate and found that some of them had blown in because none of them were installed correctly. He fixed all the windows and then mentioned in passing the mounds and mounds of bat crap up there. I didn't give it a second thought - it's an old house.

Fast forward a couple of months and I'm sitting outside with my dog at dusk. I was just relaxing on a little grassy hill while she explored when I happened to notice she was staring at the house. I follow her eyes to see what she is looking at and I see bat after bat after bat exiting the attic under the eaves. We must have made quite the picture, the two of us staring in awe with our jaws dropped! I stopped counting bats when I got to 67 and they kept coming for quite some time after that. There must have been hundreds living in my attic! I supposed it could have freaked me out, but I figured that I'd been there two months already and they didn't bother me so I figured they were pretty good roommates.

Of course, I moved out when the hot water heater exploded and the heating oil started leaching out of the tank into the ground. Talk about the money pit! I will never forget watching all those bats come pouring out of my home though...that's an image that stays with a person!