The text popped at 7:30 a.m.: BOBBI THERE IS A BAT IN MY KITCHEN. CAN YOU COME GET IT? It was our neighbor to the north, whose neat, Arts & Crafts-furnished bungalow is remarkably bat-magnetic.
I threw some clothes on, masked up, grabbed a pair of heavy leather gloves and headed over.
She has a sign over the archway to her breakfast nook, proclaiming "This is a cat-friendly house," with several cats in silhouette around the letters. Make that several cat shapes...and a sleepy-looking little brown bat, clingin to the top of the frame.
Our neighbor has seven cats (and eight litter boxes, which she keeps clean). Three of them were very interested in the bat and two more were hanging nearby, just in case. The poor bat must have thought it had found a gateway to bat hell!
We set up a stepladder and I climbed up. The bat wasn't happy, and said so, well above my range of hearing. They're kind of fragile, so you don't want to just go grabbing. There was an empty cardboard box left that the cats had been playing in; I asked for it and held it up near the bat, hoping to chivvy it in.
The bat climbed right in without being urged! I closed the box up quickly, climbed down the ladder and headed for the front door.
We were thinking we could hang the bat in one of her really tall flowers. I opened up the box -- and the bat worked its way to the edge, spread its wings, and leapt off!
He fought for altitude at first, swooping crazily the way bats do, picked up speed and height as he crossed the street, and sped towards the trees behind the houses on the other side.
That's the most cooperative bat I have encountered yet. Godspeed, little bat. Godspeed.
How nice! A cooperative bat.
ReplyDeleteThat was awfully nice of you to help your neighbor out like that. Were her cats swishing their tails in frustration with their change in dining plans ? :^)
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeletefound a large bat swimming in my john early one morning.(due to open fireplace flue)
ReplyDeletegrabbed a pot from the kitchen and scooped it out and gently decanted it outside on my deck.
later that afternoon,while standing on my deck,in full sunshine,a bat flew back ,circled above
my head for a couple of turns,and then flew off in the same direction it came from.
i swear to dog ,i think it came back to say thanks.
I'm glad you could help her. I admit bats are one animal that scares me - I will wrangle wasps, and will capture and rehome spiders outdoors, don't mind (nonvenomous) snakes (and give venomous ones the respect and wide berth they deserve), and have dealt with mice and even rats. But bats would get a freaked out "NOPE" from me. And that was even before the current "hey you know they have really bizarre immune systems and can carry some weird viruses"
ReplyDeleteBats, wild hogs, and some humans: those are three animals I don't wanna deal with.
though I admit I don't have anyone I could call if a bat wound up in my house, I'd probably have to grit my teeth, go get one of the entomology canvas sweep nets, and hope I could snare the thing on the first go and flip it outside, lacrosse-style.
So, you’re saying that your neighbor’s house is a bit batty? LOL
ReplyDeleteAt least it wasn’t in the attic...
Ulises from CA
Oh my goodness! The bat was indoors!?
ReplyDeleteWe lived in a small town in the Rocky Mountains when I found a bat in my upstairs office at about 3:00 am. I shut the door to my office and went back to bed. By the time I called the local animal control lady (*small town* knew her personally) to deal with it, it was gone. It apparently knew of a way in and out under the roof.
Afterward, she told me:
"Ya know... The bat is gone. Current protocols require you and your wife to recieve rabies immunizations since the bat can't be tested. They're required for all household members where a bat is found indoors. It's because a bat can investigate a person while they are sleeping without waking you up - or you knowing about it. I'll leave that up to you."
Just thought I'd mention that.
My neighbor can deal with her own rabies risk. This was a bat just above mouse-sized; it could bite you, but you'd just about have to feed it a finger for that to happen.
ReplyDeleteHer cats are all immunized.
The rabies risk from bats can be over-emphasized. Certainly they can carry it and should be treated with caution, but they are only responsible for one or two cases of human rabies per year in the U.S.
Scooped a bat up from a door way at Job#2 during a Christian music program that was in an old
ReplyDeletetheater. When I released him/her I said, "Go and sin no more." The band laughed, some of the old folks laughed. My boss did not.