Help! Bat in my house

[redwitch]

Bat flying around the downstairs of my house- how the hell do I get him out safely and w/o injury to the bat????

[redwitch]

1. the reallyfunny part.....

when my 14 yr old woke me up to tell me- he left the TV on---with a vampire movie playing. the TV is still on, I'm afraid to go out there! shit! It's 2 AM

[redwitch]

2. COME ON DU! WAKE UP!

HELP!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. Try a pillowcase...

I used one to catch a bat a long long time ago. I was just a kid, though, so it may have been a dumb move, but it worked.

[Maddy McCall]

4. Be careful. While you may have heard that it's untrue that most...

bats have rabies, it IS true that some do.

Can you throw a sheet over him and gather him up in it?

[Nevernose]

8. Between one and five percent

Depending upon source of information, tyoe of bat, and location of infestation.

Watch out for rabies, and many extermination services provide no-kill bat removal.

[Robeson]

5. Oh God. Thank God this problem is yours, and not mine....

...bats are creepy. Eeewwww!

Good luck! And don't bring it over here.

[redwitch]

11. well that was brutally honest!

and not at all helpful. :-)

[Robeson]

14. I'm sorry. But bats are like snakes. They totally creep me out...

...They make my skin crawl. Its a phobia of mine.

Sorry, I guess my description probably didn't help much since you are dealing with it right now...:-(

[Bossy Monkey]

6. MA Audubon Society says as follows:

A SINGLE BAT IN A LIVING SPACE
Unintentionally, bats may enter areas occupied by humans through an open window or door, or an opening from a colonized attic or wall. A bat indoors is not necessarily a sick bat; it may be a young bat who tried to follow its mother outside and took a wrong turn or it may have followed a moth through an open window.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) if there is a possibility that the bat came in contact with people or pets it should be captured for testing. If possible, confine the bat to one room and call the local animal control officer or a private pest control company and the MDPH at [phone] ( 24 hrs.) for more information.

An attempt can be made to capture the bat if it lands in a spot where a coffee can
or wide mouthed jar can be safely placed over it. Slide cardboard under the coffee can, leave the bat under the container and notify the local animal control officer or police. It will be transported to the Department of Public Health Laboratory for testing.

A BAT IN CHILD'S ROOM
If the bat is found in a child's room, the child should be completely checked for signs of a bite or scratch, although a bats teeth and claws are so small the signs may go undetected. In situations involving children, immediately contact the MDPH. They may recommend that the child undergo the pro-exposure prophylactic treatment, if the bat cannot be tested.

OTHER AREAS
Confine the bat to one room by closing doors. Open windows, turn off the lights and leave the room. Hitting the bat or throwing things at it will cause it to become disoriented making it harder for the bat to find its way out.

Do not try to capture the bat unless there is the possibility it has bitten or scratched someone. Make an attempt only if the bat lands and there is no risk in placing a wide-mouthed jar or coffee can over it. Contact the local animal control officer or police department.

http://www.massaudubon.org/printwildlife.php?id=20

[redwitch]

9. sure you did a google search

you probably were't woken out of a sound sleep

[are_we_united_yet]

7. "how the hell do I get him out..."?

Should be easy to get a bat out of hell.

[redwitch]

10. oh you're a laugh riot,you are

I'll send batty to your place if you want

[are_we_united_yet]

23. sorry I couldnt resist.

[intheflow]

12. I had a bat in the house once.

Got rid of it like the Audubon guidelines suggested: we opened windows, removed the screens, and shooed it with a broom (never hitting it) into the open window room. Closed the door. It was gone by morning.

[Beware the Beast Man]

13. Turn on all the lights.

That should fool the bat into thinking it's daylight. Once it finds a wall to sleep on, grab a wastebasket and cup it over him. Also find something to cover the open end of the basket. then let him out. I dealt with bats for years...

[Fiona]

15. You must

find the lair and kill its leader.

[greenman3610]

16. I've used a towel to knock them down without hurting them.eom

[Hardrada]

18. my grampa used to use a tennis racket

to stun them and then we put them in a towel and throught the towel outside accompanied usually by a lot of screaming from my sister. True!

[Maddy McCall]

21. Hahahaha!

[Jamastiene]

17. Been there. Done that.

Don't worry about rabies, but don't handle him. No, they do not "carry" rabies. They are warm blooded mammals. If they had rabies, they'd be out in the daytime and/or dying by now. Actually, I have been through this twice and one of those times a cousin of mine did pick him up by hand without being bitten, but it's an old family trick/thing that we can get by with handling wild animals sometimes without spooking them. Don't try that though. You might not be able to get by with it. The best advice I can give you is to calm down first. That's the first thing you should do. If you are running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, you can't get the bat out of the house asap. Once you have calmed down, you can begin to use the safest method to remove him using a bucket, a broom, and a piece of cardboard.

Here's how we handled it. You'll need two things, well really three. You might want to put your shoes and long pants on too. It'll help prevent any accidental bites if the bat gets more afraid than he probably already is. First, get a bucket, or a pail, or something else big enough to trap him underneath. Also, if you have a cardboard box, it wouldn't hurt to cut it flat before you begin trying to do the next part, because you'll need something to slide under the bucket too. Oh yeah, you could possibly use your trash can, but I'd take the garbage out first. Try to use a broom to gently coax the bat onto something flat and out in the open. Set the bucket on top of him as soon as everything calms down. After that, slowly slide the piece of cardboard under the bucket making sure the bat ends up on top of the cardboard but under the bucket. Once you get that much done, you are home free. All you have to do is slip your hand under the cardboard and keep the bucket tightly on top of the cardboard and carry the whole contraption including the bat outside. Once outside, set it down and remove the bucket and walk away. After you get inside, you can wash your hands and go back to bed or whatever you want to do.

It wouldn't hurt if you checked your house, especially your chimney if you have one, in the morning or as soon as possible. They make screens to keep this type of thing from happening. That's usually where the bats come in.

[noamnety]

19. Just don't be like my grandma

It's not appropriate to lock the bat in an enclosed room and unload can after can of Raid through the keyhole until it dies.

[nookiemonster]

20. Nookiemonster, in his younger years, was a bat nightmare.

Roll a cotton tube sock into a ball. Throw up in air. Bat charges after it (sonar ON) and gets claws stuck in sock. Falls to earth.

Oh...good times.. LOL!

BTW, we never harmed one bat. At least physically. Can't say much for their emotional state.


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[sagesnow]

22. What was your

batting average??

I know it's bad but I couldn't help it. :hide:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. So...Did you get him out?

[WhiteTara]

25. open all the windows and doors, turn out the lights

and wait. He wants out as much as you want him gone. I used to have bats fly into my house all the time. Yikes! It was sort of horrifying. If you can sort of trap it out of some parts of the house and keep moving its circle toward the door, it will go soon enough. First time it happened to me, I spent the night outdoors on the lounge, but after a few years, it became easier.