slo’s WEDNESDAY 10/16 poll - Bats 🦇

[slo]

Bats are so creepy, but they are actually very important to our ecosystem in many ways - pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, biodiversity, and for the animal food chain. That’s all fine and good until they get in our home. So tell us today…..

Have you ever had a bat(s) in your home?
If yes….. did you have one or several?
Did you fix the problem yourself or did you have to hire a pest control?
(Multiple-choice)



For Me……No, I’ve never had bats in my house, thank goodness, but I have had raccoons, which is another story for another day. You’re probably wondering….. what would make her think to do a poll on this? My boss has a small lake house and the eaves of the house were infested with bats this year - he doesn’t know how many but it was definitely in the hundreds. He is very handy and researched what to do and was able to get rid of them himself. He never got them inside the actual house, but I guess if he would have waited too long, at some point, they would’ve found their way in - what a disaster that would be. I live next to a forest and we see bats all the time. My DH built a bat box and my neighbor helped him hang it way up high on the street light at the end of my street which is in front of my house. Since they are good for mosquito control, we wanted to encourage them to stay and give them a place to live that is not inside one of our houses. It worked really well, but then the utility company came and replaced the pole and the light, which then took the bat box with it. Next summer, my husband will make another bat box and put it back up on the pole.

 

[CynBeth]

Hope I don’t jinx anything when I say no.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I have not had bats in my current home, but we did have one get in the house when I was a child. I think my Dad trapped it in a pillow case and released it outside.

I love bats in general, and like to read about them or see them at a distance, but do not want them in my house because of the health risks.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Never had them IN the house... I am pretty sure I have seen them in the yard before. I remember being at a party in an old building several years ago. I was told there was a bat in the building. I saw it, but I am not sure it was real, I almost think somebody put up a fake one just to mess with people.

I know they are creepy, but they are kind of cute. I prefer to keep a good distance.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We've never had a bat in our home, but we did have one when we were staying in a cabin in Michigan. We think that the bat had flown down the chimney. We were able to trap it in a big fishnet and throw it outside.

I've seen bats flying around our house at night. But luckily, they stay outside.

 

[Kitty 34]

We had one years and years ago. My brother gets a bat or two in his house every summer.

 

[MamaMermaid]

We've never had a bat.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Yes had one get into our basement young one - flying around in the basement lucky me had my daughter to explain to me that they’re an endangered species in their federally protected ie I couldn’t just kill it so I had to hire somebody to come and get it that person would not come until the next day when it was daylight and the bat was sleeping cost me well over $300 took him five seconds to walk downstairs to the basement and trapped this little baby bat he took it with him he didn’t like this little plastic container look like a cupcake box he was gonna go release it someplace like it would matter we have tons of bats around here - this may explain to me that he was probably a very young bat and just was snooping around and got into my basement and got confused and couldn’t figure out how to get out - I really wanted to know how he got in so I could take care of that problem so I wouldn’t have it again
Every time I go into the basement now apprehensive because I’m afraid there’s gonna be a bat in there - it’s really strange to see a bat flying around in your basement
I lived to my other house for 30 plus years we had tons of bats and I can safely say never once did a bat get in my basement or garage etc

So far I’ve had a bat in the basement and I had a hummingbird get stuck in my garage this summer I don’t know what’s up with the wildlife over here

 

[Meriweather]

Long ago....when I was a child, we had one in our home. My father managed to get it out of the house without harm.
Never since then.'
Where my grandparents lived had a lot of bats flying around. We would dodge them when walking around at night. Never one on their house when I visited them, but probably when I wasn't there.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Never in my house! Thank goodness!

 

[MIGrandma]

We live in an old farmhouse in the country, so yes we have had bats in the house. Only two though.

 

[fla4fun]

I have seen bats flying at night in nearby neighborhoods, but not here. We have a couple of hawks living in the neighborhood that would make a nice snack out of them. Between the hawks and the coyotes we don’t have a rodent or small animal problem.

 

[leebee]

We have had a single bat in our house maybe 5 times. I HATE them- not because they are bats, not because I'm scared of them, but they DO NOT belong in my house! DH waits for them to land, then puts a mesh strainer over them, slides a piece of cardboard under them, and transports them out into the woods behind the house.

 

[Babs Johnson]

When I was about 8 or 9 a bat got into our house. I think my father corralled it into a bedroom and whacked it with a broom.

My mother apparently believed the tale that bats often get entangled in women’s hair.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We've never had bats in the house. Raccoons in the attic, but no bats

 

[kanerf]

We used to catch bats to hand over to researchers who would test them for rabies among other things. How do you catch bats? Easy, you put up a net (like for tennis) across a swimming pool. The bats are drawn to the water and their sonar cannot detect the net and they run into it and get caught. You just have to pull them off the net and put them in the container. Wear heavy gloves of course.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I have never had a bat in my house and I pray that it stays that way. We live in a densely forested area with a lot of known colonies around, so it's really common to see them. I had one buzz my head the other week when I was outside with the dog. I'm guessing it was helping with the cloud of mosquitos.

 

[Micca]

No bats, but there's a glove around here somewhere

 

[RUDisney]

I almost didn't answer so as not to tempt fate.

My parents had one when I was little and my Dad took care of it. None in my house so far and we've lived here over 30 years. But, when I said that about mice 2 years ago, we had an infestation.

 

[design_mom]

I have never had a bat in my house.

We lived in a rural area when I was growing up and although I didn't live on a farm, several friends did. One had bats in their barn... but generally they did not bother us and we did not bother them. I also saw the Congress Street Bridge bats when I visted Austin TX. That was pretty cool, but I would not want to see any bats close up. I even kind of scoot by the flying fox (a large asian fruit bat) display at the zoo!