A Bat in the house!

[buzzlady]

Luckily it's not my house but my mothers. Anyone have any ideas on how to get it out? She saw it during the night in her bedroom and tried to get it but it went back up into the attic which the door is located in her bedroom. She closed the attic door and left her bedroom to try to sleep downstairs. Early this morning she saw it downstairs. It had to come under the attic and her bedroom doors. Once it started getting light out she hasn't been able to find it. My DH went over to try and find it but couldn't. I know that I could never live knowing there was a bat in my house Maybe my DH will go back over when it gets dark and be able to find it.

 

[pumba]

would have to move out..........keep only one room light on tonight........maybe that way you can keep it in the one area.....I would think if there is one there has to be a few more......also there has to be a hole that they came in thru the attic.....so that will have to be sealed up too.....maybe call in a professional

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

Because some bats carry rabies, I would second the suggestion to call in a professional.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I'm seconding the suggestion to call in a pro. Don't mess with bats! They can transmit rabies without biting a person.

And a call to her local hospital or physician is a good idea too.

 

[Ibelieveinfairies]

I don't have any advice other than to call a pro...but have a funny bat story

A friend of mine got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and didn't take her glasses with her. Not wanting to turn on the light and wake her husband, she went into the bathroom and heard and saw that something was in her toilet...she flips on the light and through her blurry vision guesses that it might be....A BAT!! She screams, runs into the bedroom to get her husband, and he goes into the bathroom, slams the lid on the toilet after confirming that it is, indeed, a bat.

They called a man to come capture it the next morning and all was well...but, boy, wouldn't that make you think twice about sitting down to pee in the middle of the night?

 

[mickeyboat]

Unfortunately we get them more often than we like. They can maneuver through a hole as small as a pencil eraser so it is really hard to keep them out of your house.

We have tried a lot of methods to get rid of one flygin around the house. Try turning on all the lights in the house at night and opening the window or door. They should go right out into the dark.

Unfortunately, that doesn't always work for us. We sometimes have to resort to the vacuum cleaner. We wait for it to land and suck it up. We then put a sock or towel in the end of the hose and bring the cleaner outside. They have been known to escape during the night. I usually make DH check to make sure it is gone before he brings the cleaner back into the house.

Good luck to your Mom. Denae

P.S. Monkeyboy recommended to me that I turn off the bat signal.

 

[RadioNate]

My mom had bats. I learned WAY too much about bats. First off very few bats actually carry rabies. They also don't usually bite, they will scrach badly though.

She probablly has a little brown bat as they are the most common home invaders. These bats only need about 1/4 on an inch to get though so going under a door etc is not at all uncommon.

She needs to know if she has 1 bat or a colony. If there is a colony get used to them because there is no easy way to get them out until they migrate. There are also some laws reguarding bats and you just can't have an entire colony exterminated.

The sounds like a single bat. Someone needs to find it during the day while it's sleeping. The easiest thing to do is just put a coffee can over it, slide cardboard or similar over the top and release it outside. The local animal control person should be able to do this and also determine if are more bats.

They should be able to indentify any entry point that needs to be sealed up.

At my mom's we worked with local animal control and sealed the gaps ourself. We had a colony so it took several months to complete the process. We often had to do work overnight while the bats were "out."

Good luck. It does sound like a stray. He's probablly hiding in the basement or behind curtains.

 

[mickeyfan1]

I had one in a house once, it was not fun. I ended up calling the county animal contol, the guy finally found it hanging off a dress in a dark closet. He put an empty coffe can over it and the lid on the other side of the dress and then slid it down to the bottom and capped the can quick. They did test it for rabies and it did not have it, but YUCK. I did not like it at all.

 

[btass]

CALL A PROFESSIONAL AND YOUR DOCTOR RIGHT AWAY! NOW!

A girl in the town that I am from was in the house when a bat was in there. As a bat flies, it spits siliva out, if there is rabies in the siliva and you touch where the siliva hit the furniture or the floor, you can get the rabies. The family did not know this and the girl (teenage) got rabies, she died from it.

CALL A PROFESSIONAL AND YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!

 

[monarchsfan16]

We used to get bats all the time in the house. We'd coax them into a room that had the window open already and make sure that the light was on in the room. Once they were in the room we'd slam the door and because of the way the doors are in our house they couldn't get out anyway but out the window. Once we heard it stop slamming into the walls, my uncle would go in and make sure that it was out, close the window and everything would be fine again.
You could also try throwing a small rock out the window to get the bat to chase it. They sound like bugs flying through the air to the bats. Trust me. My friend and I used to toss rocks into the air when we were in elementary school and watch the bats chase them. Yeah, I grew up in hick country.

 

[Pin Wizard]

<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_5.gif' alt='Scared To Death' border=0></a><a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_5.gif' alt='Scared To Death' border=0></a><a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_5.gif' alt='Scared To Death' border=0></a><a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_5.gif' alt='Scared To Death' border=0></a>
I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread!

If you have one in your house, who do you call to get it out?

In my house 2 houses ago......one night I saw something that I thought was a bat. It was sure bigger than a moth! Called the boyfriend at the time who drove about 35 miles. He insisted it was a moth and got it out. IT WASN'T A MOTH!!! I think it was a small bat.

 

[decker96]

The area where I live has one of the highest bat populations in the country because we live in a river valley surrounded by bluffs, plenty of bugs and plenty of habitats!
In our last house we had bats. We had a professional service come and seal up all our cracks and crevices that they could be coming in through. They had to come out three times, but finally got them all.
First they came and put this weird smelling liquid in the attic. Apparently bats don't like it and most will leave your home and not return. After a week they came and patched up all the possible entrances they found except for one, which is the one that the bats most use. They can tell this by the amount of droppings they find outside it. Then they came back at dusk and waited for the bats to fly out (we had 10). Once no more were flying out, they sealed up the last hole. So, you can get rid of them even if you have a colony. He said there was a possiblity that one or more may get trapped in the attic if they had decided not to leave the house that night, but that didn't happen to us.
The guy that came to bat-proof told us that very few bats carry rabies. He also told us that bats are actually good because they can eat up to 300 mosquitos a night. Still doesn't make me want to have them in my house!!!!!
My MIL gave us a book of home remedies for pests and this is how it said to get a single bat out of your house, if you can't catch it (DH used to catch ours in a fishing net). Right after dusk, turn off all the lights in your house. Close all windows and doors except one. Take a lampshade off a lamp set it outside the open door and turn it on. The bat will be drawn to the light and escape out the open door. We never had to try this as DH always caught all ours in the night. It's worth a try though if you can't find it.
Good luck!! I'm so glad our new house does not have bat issues!!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Originally posted by mickeyfan1
I had one in a house once, it was not fun. I ended up calling the county animal contol, the guy finally found it hanging off a dress in a dark closet. He put an empty coffe can over it and the lid on the other side of the dress and then slid it down to the bottom and capped the can quick. They did test it for rabies and it did not have it, but YUCK. I did not like it at all.

I would have to throw that dress away...without touching it! <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_5.gif' alt='Scared To Death' border=0></a><a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_5.gif' alt='Scared To Death' border=0></a><a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_5.gif' alt='Scared To Death' border=0></a>