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July 30, 2007
Bats in the Belfry
O and I seemed to have developed a bat problem. It wasn't apparent that we had a bat problem until approximately 3:25 am this morning when Roxy was pawing at my head in excitement. She had spotted a bat and wanted to let us know. That's how is all started at least...
Upon noticing a little black thing scurrying up our curtains I poked O to wake him up. In his grogginess he grabbed some tissues from the bathroom. He apparently thought Roxy and I were cowering in the corner because there was a bug on the wall. No my friend, that was no bug.
When our little bat friend took off flying across our bedroom I had had enough. I flattened myself and crawled out of the bedroom. O, now very much awake and aware of the fact that he was going to have to catch this bat, evacuated as well and slammed the bedroom door shut as we all clamoured out. This was getting serious.
Roxy and I shut ourselves up in the office while O proceeded to dress himself in what I can only assume was bat catching gear. He had on big gloves, a long sleeve shirt, a winter hat, a big towel around his neck that was tucked into his shirt... It was about this time that he started to sweat profusely. It is, afterall, about 85 degrees in the 2nd story of our house. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
I hear him banging around in the bedroom daring the bat to come out. No luck. He went through the closet, the curtains, the bed. We even set Roxy loose to see if she could sniff the bat out again. Again, no luck. We convinced ourselves that wherever the bat had come in, it had now escaped. At least that's what we hoped. The problem though was that it was now about 4:15 am and I get up at 4:45 am. Try as I might I just laid there (along with O and Roxy who were also obviously not sleeping) until my alarm went off. And a major grump I was getting myself to the pool!
O offered to drive me into work so I could take a nap and catch up on some sleep. Great guy isn't he? I tell you - if you can't be a teacher yourself, the 2nd best option is to be married to one. You reap wonderful benefits. :)
Regardless, I sent O home with orders to research bats and to check the attic for evidence of further bats (did you know a group of bats is called a colony?). Around lunch time I open up my email to see a message from O entitled "bat removed"!
In his own words:
"Well, I found the bat. I was looking for a suitable baseball hat to wear for my attic adventure and found him sleeping underneath my old Toledo Mudhens hat (it, along with a few others, got thrown away). After screaming and regaining my senses, I got my "gear" on and trapped it in the shoe box. I went outside and flung the box out by where we put our garbage on collection days. The bat went flying into that vine-like thing along the fence."
Bat problem solved! O went on to tell me about his trip to the attic (which we NEVER go into) and his further internet bat research. We are hoping our little friend got lost due to some faulty sonar last night and doesn't really live in our house. I told Roxy she is going to have to keep on look-out tonight for more bats but she's already sleeping on the bed. Some guard dog she is! Although I have to give her props for alerting us to the bat last night.
Life never is dull... :)
PS Besides bat-hunting and going to work I did fit in a 2000 yd swim this morning and a 1 hour moderate ride on the trainer tonight. We also picked up some jazzy race wheels from my friend tonight, including a Zipp disc wheel. I may not be fast but my bike sure is going to look the part... :)
Posted by beth at July 30, 2007 9:30 PM
Comments
From my research, I found out that bats are not aggressive animals. But, I didn't want to hang around to find out! Roxy's taking the first night shift for guard duty and then I get the 2nd shift.
Posted by: O at July 30, 2007 10:00 PM
I used to give a program on bats at an environmental ed camp...
O, you did the right thing in suiting up because bats can harbor disease and bacteria that make humans (and Roxy's) sick!
Also, they are exploratory creatures. On their nighttime ramblings for food, they frequently spend time "looking around" for new living quarters. I suspect that if that bat got as much harassment as it did at your house, it probably won't be back. :)
Funny story!
Posted by: Meghan at July 31, 2007 5:15 AM
I know a bat hunter... I don't know if he travels that far, though.
Posted by: pjm at July 31, 2007 8:33 AM
Good grief. Be careful! Seriously. Roxy I assume has had her rabies vaccine, but you guys are at risk. I once read that this little girl had a bat land on her arm and she didn't even realize that she had been bitten. Not to scare you but they arn't to be messed around with. Maybe you should call a "critter control" company.
Posted by: dawn at July 31, 2007 8:47 AM
As "pjm" eluded to, we've had about five bats in our various apartments, and we've lived to tell the tale. We realized along the way that our cat liked to chase them once they were trapped in our apartment with relatively low ceilings. One time he had to get a rabies booster, though, because we thought he might have bitten a bat. But he has lived to tell the tale as well, and he's probably bummed that we don't have such entertainment in our latest apartment.
The are annoying and a little frightening, and I know there are certain dangers, but as long as you catch them and don't get bit, everyone's probably going to be just fine.
Posted by: Alison at July 31, 2007 8:55 PM