Bats in the Bedroom (1 Viewer)

Well, one bat.

For the past week I've worked late every night (on Sunday I was still at work at midnight!), so, tonight - having finished at an almost-descent 8.00pm I thought I'd better catch up on my emails and take a look on BirdForum - something I haven't had the time or will (staring at a monitor all day tends to dull one's appetite for surfing) to do all week.

Things are never so simple in my life however. There was a bat flying around my 'office' (spare bedroom) this evening. I switched the light off and considered what to do. I contemplated phoning an aquaintance of mine who is a bat expert, but I had visions of mist nets and huge telephone bills to Scotland whilst I described the poor beast in intimate detail. So, I went over to the window (one of those horizontal affairs at the top which don't open particularly wide) and opened it as wide as possible. No luck. I could see why - presumably, unless the bat was above the window, almost on the ceiling, the gap would hardly register as an escape route on it's radar. Next, a hunt for a long-unused folding butterfly net proved fruitless. Landing net (for fishing)? Too heavy - it might harm the bat. The poor creature solved the problem itself by dropping down into a log basket full of, er, bits of printers, computers and other vital items of hardware I think I might one day need, but know I never will! I grabbed a blanket and covered the basket, then took the whole lot downstairs into the back porch and left it there with the back door open (after removing the blanket, of course!). Hopefully, by morning, it will have resumed it's normal life - or built me a whole new PC system from the hardware to hand.

As to what species of bat it was, I have no idea - my concern was with the safety of the bat rather than identification. It looked too large to be a Pipistrelle, but it is very difficult to judge size when one is confronted with a bat in such unusual circumstances - compared to a moth or crane fly, it looked huge! The only other bat I see regularly around me is the Noctule - which it definately wasn't.

Has anyone else had a bat enter their house? I can only imagine it followed an insect which flew through my open window.

saluki

Oh, my goodness, YES! Far too many times!

I grew up in a old (1876) frame house, and bats seemed to find their way in about once a summer, and always into my bedroom. Imagine being a girl of about 12-14 awakened in the middle of the night by bat wings paddling the air just scant inches from your face! It was terrifying!!

We weren't nearly as smart about things as you were -- my mother, rest her brave soul, would venture into the room, which I had fled, and eventually knock the bat down with a tennis racket, then scoop it up into a shoebox or some such, and take it outside.

This was back in the 60s, and to us, bats were creepy creatures -- and I was convinced that it was out to tangle itself in my (then very long) hair!

Then there was the time that a pet cat got trapped in the bedroom with the bat -- I had fled again, slamming the door behind me. The door had louvers, and we could see the shadow of the bat flying about the room (I had fallen asleep with the light on). We could hear the cat mewing and chittering at the bat.

Then, suddenly, there were a couple of short, very high-pitched, piercing cries -- then silence! After a couple of minutes with no fluttering shadows or meows, we cautiously opened the door to find this little cat sitting proudly on the radiator cover across the room -- with something on her chin. A closer look showed that 'something' to be a single drop of blood. Huh?

A look to the floor, and there was the bat, bitten and dead!

That little cat, who was the sweetest little girl, was known as Buffy Bat-Killer ever after.

About 15-18 years ago, I was living in a second-storey apartment, in a building with a crawl space attic above. At the other end of the building, you could occasionally see bats flying out of the building at night. I was rearranging furniture one day, and moving a bookcase away from a wall to clean behind it -- and found a nearly mummified bat lying dead on the floor! Ack! I had two cats living with me then, and can only assume that perhaps one of them had gotten to it, injured it, and it had managed to hide itself behind the bookcase where it died.

It's taken me years to get over my original fear of bats -- I know now that they are fascinating creatures, and valuable for eating mosquitos.

But....FAR too many up close and personal experiences!

Yes, many, many times when I was a child in Ireland. The windows were large sash type, which were left open on hot summer nights. If we kept a light burning the bats would be in very quickly. My sister and I shared a room and we were terrified that they would get stuck in our hair because of course "bats have sticky feet how else do they hang upside down! and they drive you mad if they get stuck in your hair". That was the Old Wives Tale around in those days, We used to leap into bed as quickly as possible and cover our heads with the sheet. No idea what species they were though.

When I was a small child staying in my uncle's farm house, a bat got into my bedroom. My uncle got it out simply by opening the window turning and from outside shone a torch beam trough the open window, and the bat simply flew out following the beam of light.

Paul

OK, I am now definitely going to keep the bedroom windows open at night!!!
Probably have a long wait though as I live in a horribly built-up area and have never seen any bats in our street yet!!! But I will keep the open windows in mind when I win the lottery and can buy a house in the country!!! Or an old church and then I can have bats and owls in the belfry!!!

Gosh, seeing this thread title sure brought back memories of my youngster days. My family had a cabin in the woods in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Bats in the cabin were a common problem. Especially after the cabin had been closed up for a period of time. Back then, there was more fear of the flying wonders than there is now so each time the cabin was opened up, it was done so with a bit of trepidation. We soon learned that some open windows and giving the bats a chance to realize this, was our only recourse so usually, we would open everything up, go out for a meal and most times the cabin was clear by the time we got back. Thanks for the memories Saluki.

Happens quite a bit here in Italy if you're out in the countryside and it's not that hard to get them out. Close the door so that he's in one room. Get a white sheet. When he starts to fly past you throw the sheet up and just gather him in. What happens is that you overpower his echolocation with the white sheet - too many stimuli at once and he can't react to it. Then just go to the window and throw him out. Close the window and resume normal life. No big deal.

:news: :eek!:

John, what a good chuckle from your story!

(and a dentist WILL file those teeth down if you'd only ask . . .)

An acquaintance of mine has been a bat rehabber lately, and has had a couple of little guys who have become quite content living in oversized fish aquariums in their dining room. The aquariums are kept covered, of course, with netting and a light towel, and the sides are lined with cardboard to provide them with darkness.

The species he has I know is quite common here in the Midwest, but I don't know the name.

When I visited him to pick up an injured red-tail for rehab, he invited me in to meet the bats. He held them gently in his hands, and then handed one to me (given my earlier post, you can imagine the initial shivers I had!). But what a pleasant surprise. They are the most gentle dark brown, quite velvety, and the one I had almost seemed to curl up and nap while I stroked its back. One he had skittered up his arm to his shoulder and worked his way down to his shirt pocket, but made a small mistake in his aim and ended up clinging to the outside of the pocket. It was really quite charming!

It was really a neat experience, and I hope I can say that I've now gotten over my horrors of bats.

They even stayed quite calm (more than me, anyway!) when Crackers the pet rooster who lives in the living room (!) let loose with a rousing cock-a-doodle-doo at 8 in the evening! LOL!

Awww Beverley I am SO jealous...I want to hold a bat!!! *stamps foot and pouts huffily*

Glad you've realised just how adorable they are...going to join your local bat group now? Which reminds me...must get in touch with mine....

GILL XXX

Well, Gill, there's isn't a local bat group, per se -- I just know the one fellow. Fortunately, he's giving a program for the parks department later this spring, and I do plan to attend that.

And perhaps I'll talk to him about getting a bat house for the back yard.

He's serves on the same rehab board as I do, so getting to him is usually pretty easy -- except at the moment, he's in the Cameroons!