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Mrs. Peel

Bat in the Belfry & Why Big Brothers are the Best!

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What a horrifying night this was! Early this evening, I'm sitting on the sofa watching TV in my old Victorian house, and a dark shadow flits past the corner of my field of vision from the adjoining hallway. I instantly froze. I thought, "Nooo!!! Oh, god.... NOOOOOO! Pu-leez, dear Lord!... don't let it be a BAT!!!" I'm simply terrified of bats and have been since I was a very small child. I don't hold many phobias, but that one is a doozy. So, I sat there... STARING at the hallway.. just praying to God... sure enough, the little bastard darts past the doorway headed the other way... and then back again... now frenetically darting up and down the hallway. :vampire:

OK, I'm embarrassed to admit this...but this all transpired in about a minute, and I was already in a cold sweat, stomach lurching, dry throat, hives forming. Bad. Very, very bad. And, so I did something I rarely do... something that goes against every fiber of my independent nature: Yes... I played the woman card - BIG time! I immediately called my big brother!!!  What a total helpless chick move... I'm not proud! :blush: (To be fair though, did I mention my lifelong, crippling fear of bats? And, and... shouldn't everyone with XX-chromosomes play the woman card at least once every few years... just to keep the skill up?)

So, as I was sputtering into the phone... "OMG... there's a b-b-b-bat in my house!!" - my bro calmly said, "Ok. Relax, I'm on my way". Before we hung up, he had already grabbed a fishing net and was halfway down his driveway. Oh, and did I mention he lives SEVENTY MILES AWAY? :wub: How totally bitchin' cool is that? I mean... what a badass! Dammit, that's the stuff real heroes are made of!!!  And while I was awaiting his arrival, I also messaged a poster on here for advice (he can identify himself he wishes to) because his wife is a naturalist and bat expert. Because when an eerily silent, swooping devil has invaded your castle, you call in all the reinforcements at your disposal!! 

To be fair, I did try to summon my courage...but dammit, this little bat was circling my rooms like a kamikaze, passing inches from my face! It was HORRIFYING. It took all my might not to SCREAM like a banshee. He was upstairs, downstairs, flying room to room, swooping up and down the stairwell. It was GHASTLY!!! When he swooped downstairs for the 3rd time, I scurried upstairs like a scared rabbit and closed off all the upstairs rooms, sticking towels under the doors - to at least reduce the places he could escape to. After an hour of all this frenzied flying, he finally clung to the curtain rod in my dining room... I just couldn't summon up the moxie to try to capture him though. So, I just sat there and kept an eye on him... (and I do believe he was keeping an eye on me, too)… hoping we at least wouldn't have to "hunt" for him once my brother got there. Finally my brother arrived, strolled in with his improvised bat-catching equipment, took one look at my stricken face, shook his head and said, "Huh. I guess I shoulda brought a Xanax, too?" (Yeah, he's both a hero AND a wiseass). Then he calmly walked into the dining room, netted the bat in like 2 mins flat and released it in the front yard. 

Now, of course, I'm left wondering - how the hell did the bat get in my house in the first place? Will it return? Does it have family members setting up house as we speak? Still a bit freaked out. I'll have to have to call my pest guy... have him come over and make sure there's no one else "hanging around" who wasn't invited!

Anyway, I just felt compelled to publicly sing my brother's praises! Everyone, please join me... raise a glass to my big brother... my badass, bat-catchin' big brother - a man who made a nearly 3-hour round trip in order to perfectly execute 2 minutes of pure heroism! :superman:

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Just now, fishnut said:

FYI- Animal control will come and get the bat for free but they are required to have it sent out for rabies testing which means the bat will be killed. 

Judging from Mrs. Peel's post, I think she would be just fine with that.

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You should have grabbed your shotgun, It would have been good practice for skeet  shooting.

One of my wife's co workers have a problem with bats and flying squirrels. Their kid is freaked out by them flying around in his room lmao.

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Bats ARE pretty awesome, but not in your house. 

I had one in my house at the ranch many years ago, it was much like the bat scene in ‘The Great Outdoors’....except the bat survived. 

After that experience, I doubt he’ll be getting into people’s houses again. 

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5 minutes ago, Sniper said:

Did he leave that bat-catching equipment with you, so YOU can catch the next one?

No, he uses it too often - to catch feral cats, injured animals, etc. He's like Dr. Doolittle. Even though I've been in this house for more than a decade and this is the FIRST and ONLY time this ever happened... I'm actually tempted to pick up some utility gloves and a fishing net today. (Though I think my phobia does present a serious problem to any kind of capture scenario! I'm still jumpy in my house today - I have a fan on and some hair blew across my face - I jumped 2 feet and gave a little shriek, LOL, thinking it was a bat.)

My neighborhood really is Bat Central - I wish I'd known that BEFORE I purchased - 2 other neighbors on the block have had a bat in the house over the years. There's a river here (so lots of insects to attract them) and they like to roost in the many little barns and carriage houses in town. Soooo, yeah... I'm thinking of stopping by WalMart today. I know you can use a box or bucket... but then you have to get NEAR the thing. :( His net had a decently long handle at least!

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OK, sounds like the next NJGF Shotgun Shootout will be held at Mrs. Peel's house.

Expect it to be called on short notice, and at night.

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You need to be careful when you find a bat in your home, and in particular your bedroom.  It is is a very small chance, but a bat in your home can be rabid, and can land on you when you are sleeping without your knowledge.  They are relatively harmless otherwise, though creepy, and just like humans, they don't like to be disturbed when they are sleeping.  

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Ok, I too am in an old Victorian.  I don't want to get into the story because of the Bat Police but my episode didn't end well for one of us when the little bugger got into the house.  My cats don't have their shots so we were all doing battle to see who could get it first.  Anyway you want to check your attic.  They'll hang out on the south side of what ever they find the darkest and warmest up there.  

Or you could turn off all the lights and sit there making a noise like a mosquito and see if they come to you.  But check the attic first. 

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10 minutes ago, BobA said:

But check the attic first. 

P.S. DON'T call a pest control company.  You wouldn't believe the rules about bat control. We can't kill them or even disturb them at certain times.  I had a friend in Madison that called to be rid of them in his attic and found he couldn't during certain seasons due to babies.  He had to wait months until he could list his house because of it.  Deal with it privately and quietly.  

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1 hour ago, BobA said:

P.S. DON'T call a pest control company.  You wouldn't believe the rules about bat control. We can't kill them or even disturb them at certain times.  I had a friend in Madison that called to be rid of them in his attic and found he couldn't during certain seasons due to babies.  He had to wait months until he could list his house because of it.  Deal with it privately and quietly.  

After aug 15th you are allowed to exclude them. By then all the babys are flying on their own. 

The rules were made for a reason, bats need all the help they can get if they die off were screwed. 

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There's no such thing as "a bat." Only "bats." They don't live a solitary existence. You can be sure that devil bird has friends, and they will avenge him. 

You should probably get the rabies vaccine. It's only three shots in advance. If you need it after exposure it's 5 shots, and they have to pump you full of like a gallon of rabies immune globulin wherever they can find room to stick a needle.

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4 minutes ago, Handyman said:

There's no such thing as "a bat." Only "bats." They don't live a solitary existence. You can be sure that devil bird has friends, and they will avenge him. 

You should probably get the rabies vaccine. It's only three shots in advance. If you need it after exposure it's 5 shots, and they have to pump you full of like a gallon of rabies immune globulin wherever they can find room to stick a needle.

Three shots plus a titer test and it's very expensive and insurance will not cover the pre exposure vaccination. 

Also the post exposure shots are not that bad

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