The craziest thing just happened to me...

[jaybird2001wi]

I just got done taking a shower and was officially calling it a night when I went downstairs (I live with my parents right now) and my dog was crying. I noticed a bat flying around the living room and woke up my dad. So I told my dad to turn on all the lights and then I put on all my winter clothing, including gloves and such and attempted to catch the bat without getting bit. Needless to say I caught it and luckily enough my winter gloves were thick enough because it tried biting through it. I feel like I just saw a ghost and now I can't even fathom sleep.

Should I disinfect the whole living room because I feel as if mercury spilled in the house.

[trwi7]

Nope no need to be worried. Go way, way up north and bats in houses and stores and stuff is pretty common. Just to a good check around the house and see if you see anymore and then catch them if there are any. Otherwise you should be fine.

[tommyboy42609]

Not really sure if all the winter clothes is needed. I've taken out 3 bats at different friends houses this summer just usin a frying pan. The first bat i was hacking like a first pitch to johnny estrada but the last two i've gotten on the first swing i'm not sure what to tell ya about feeling like you just saw a ghost, being slightly intoxicated made me not care all too much about it. Good luck!

[jaybird2001wi]

The question is... how the heck did a bat get into the house to begin with? I know my parents tell me to smoke outside, but I always make sure the door is shut all the way. The house seemed clear before I showered and then boom, it emerged. You think the bat was likely hibernating somewhere in the basement for awhile?

[And That]

Bats can get in fairly easily. They are basically like rats with wings. He may have have come up through the foundation somehow.

[trwi7]

The question is... how the heck did a bat get into the house to begin with? I know my parents tell me to smoke outside, but I always make sure the door is shut all the way. The house seemed clear before I showered and then boom, it emerged. You think the bat was likely hibernating somewhere in the basement for awhile?

 

Yeah they can get in pretty easily. You normally don't pay attention when closing the door I'm assuming and they don't make noise when they fly so you might have been turned around and it could have flown in.

[jaybird2001wi]

As fearful as I was, the bat seemed kinda cute in a way. But I would probably end up like Ned Flanders in the Simpsons' Halloween episode where he said, "Awe, he tried to claw my eyes out."

[And That]

Bats are 62,000,000 billion times more afraid of you than you are of them. I've removed a few bats in my time... the best method is getting them against the wall, covering them with a large tupperware bowl, and sliding them off the wall, and then covering the bowl. Position the covered bowl outside, and release. They don't mean any harm to you.

[SeriesFinale]

Bats are 62,000,000 billion times more afraid of you than you are of them.

 

I don't know about that, buddy.

 

That's a phobia I've had since I was a young boy--I'm OK being in their presence outdoors but one in my house would have me feeling like jaybird: http://static.yuku.com/v2//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/eek.gif It was bad enough when they used to get in the porch.

[And That]

Bats are 62,000,000 billion times more afraid of you than you are of them.

I don't know about that, buddy.

 

That's a phobia

Well, exactly. 99% of bats aren't after you.

 

[SeriesFinale]

Oh, I never claimed it was rational

[endaround]

Your dog crying because it was excited or hurt? Just make sure it wasn't bit because bats are a huge carrier of rabies.

[Fatter than Joey]

We have had a few bat run-ins in the FTJ household -- though none recently.

 

I do have a good story though

 

I was sitting downstairs with my wife watching TV at about 11 PM, when we hear a bloodcurdling screech coming from our upstairs. My wife and I head upstairs and both my girls are shrieking at the top of their lungs that they had a bat in their room, but they managed to chase to chase the bat out of their room, and into their brother's room, and shut the door.

 

My wife standing behind me (directly) takes the opportunity to yell right in my ear "OMIGODTHEBATISGOINGTOKILLOURSONAGGGGGHHHHHHH".

 

I love my wife and daughters -- I hate it when they yell things at me though.

 

So I immediately send my daughters downstairs, and instruct them to bring me up a broom and a garbage bag. My wife then proceeds to ask me if she should call her dad and have him bring a gun over. I then take the opportunity to calmly remind my wife that she is insane, and I would try my best with the broom, then work my way up through other household items, but if none of them worked I would retable the idea of my inlaws coming over to my house around midnight packing heat.

 

Armed with a broom and garbage bag I entered the boy's room. I flipped on the light, and almost immediately the bat flew into the ceiling fan and then slammed into the wall. I swept the bat (in one piece) into the garbage bag and tied it up.

 

FTJ 1 -- Bats 0

 

My son slept through the whole event. God bless him.

 

I have had a lot of bat run-ins over the years, growing up in the northwoods -- and have developed a pretty good compact broom swing -- like another poster said -- you just have to have an Estradaesque approach.

[JumpinMacFlash]

The last three weeks we've had 5 bats in my parents house. I'm always the one that is woken up and given a tennis racket. I never try to catch them. I'm usually angry from being woken up and take out my anger on the bats. The last time, the little bugger gave me problems for about 5 minutes before I got 'em.

 

Brian-5 Bats-0

[splitterpfj]

I rented a house a few years back, the prior tennants had left the place a mess, so we did a lot of poking around and cleaning in the first few days. The place had a fireplace, we dug around in there, removing an incredible amount of ash, etc, the next night a bat flew in through there. I just opened the sliding door facing the deck and got him moving, eventually he flew outside.

 

I'll second what Toby said, unless the bat is rabid or something, it's going to do all it can to fly away from contact.

[thevaccinator27]

I'd recommend using a tennis racket, but don't swing to hard. Just want to stun it. Swing too hard and you have julienned bat.

[fondybrewfan]

I didnt know dogs could cry?

[GAME05]

i believe legally, you're supposed to call animal control about a bat in the house because you're not supposed to kill them. but tennis racquets work great, too.

 

putting up a bat house outside is a great idea. my folks have one. they do great to control the bug population around the house. two would always swoop over our pool at dusk whether anyone was in the pool or not, which i thought was always fun, plus it freaked out guests.

 

maybe the bat bit the dog, though, and you'll need to get it rabies shots.

[Diskono]

Just don't try to catch it in a pot. You can't catch a bat in a pot.

[brewers255]

Call in Victor Santos he will take care of those bats for you.

[Invader3K]

We had to call an AC guy earlier this summer to get our air conditioner running properly. Ended up being a disconnected wire that was the problem, but behind one of the filters he found a dead bat. He figured it probably crawled in through a ventilation pipe, so yeah, they can find their way in a lot of different ways.

 

We have a bat house mounted to the back of our garage, but I've never seen any evidence of bats occupying it, though sometimes people claim bats fly over them at night, if we have guests in the backyard. I guess I'm not observant enough to notice.

[Mike Felder]

When I was about 5, I had a bat in my bedroom. It was an older house in the Sherman Park neighborhood of Milwaukee, and I was used to seeing centipedes, etc. on the walls, so I just figured this was a really big bug. My parents were gone, so I called the babysitter upstairs and she proceeded to scream bloody murder. We spent the rest of the night sitting in my sister's room with the door closed and the lights off. My dad took it out with a tennis racket when he got home. I imagine using one of those would be an easy way to get rid of it.

[craigharmann]

Last summer, we let the cat outside and somehow, she brought in a bat. I know that because the bat was laying on the floor, stunned. So, I got the broom and knocked it out the front door where it died. So we had to take the cat in for her rabies shot and take the bat with us and send it in for testing. No rabies for either. Cats are dumb.

[GAME05]

wasn't it Three Amigos where they sat around the campfire and ate bat?

[Fatter than Joey]

Cats are dumb

 

Cats are indeed dumb.