WAY OT: Bats

Hopefully this will provide some comic relief to your Holiday.

The wife went to the attic to find the stockings. You know, the ones that need to be hung by the chimney with care this evening. She found the stockings, but we also found a little brown bat asleep on the stairs. We get them in the attic from time to time. I usually catch them in a box, drive out to the lake, and let them go.

Well, its cold outside with at least 9 inches of snow on the ground. I put the little thing out on the back porch railing expecting it to fly away, but it just sat there shivering. I'm not so sure it isn't hibernating or something.

So, I put him in a cardboard box, sealed it shut, and poked a couple small air holes in it and brought it back in the house. I don't like to kill things that I'm not going to eat. I can live and let live in that respect, but I don't want the critter to suffer, so I would kill it before I let it freeze to death (but I really don't want to). Now I have a "pet" bat in a box in the dining room.

What would you do? Knock it in the head and be done with it, or wait until it seems a little more lively and put it outside?

jdnewbie,

I lifted a piece of plywood laying on the ground last August, damn near fell over myself with the flurry of bats that raged out from under that piece. The phrase batoutofhell comes to mind.

I'd vote for live and let live. Perhaps you could find a way to put him back in the attic? At least til warmer times.

D.

If I where you I would if you can put it back where it was. Being a former cave explorer I have seen a good number of bats and here in Missouri it is a big NO NO to kill them

They fly south for the winter to warmer climes like
birds, and will freeze to death in northern
climates. They do some kind of hibernation, but I
think it's far south like in Mexico. You might want
to call a local zoo, and see if they can take the
little critter. There is a fungus going around in
the 'little brown bat' population that is killing
them, so preservation steps may help them to
survive.

A very good many bats winter over in caves here in Missouri. There are even a number of caves that conservation close to cavers in the winter due to the bats wintering over in them

I'd off the thing. I can't keep em out of the house. NO WAY I'd bring one in.

Around here in S Calif some bats carries rabies. Seams like your pet bat isn't acting normal, they usually hang in a high area. If he bites you make sure you keep him, to be tested for rabies. Stan

It"s a big brown bat. They are the one species of bat adapted to hibernate in freezing temperatures, and the only one typically found in buildings in northern latitudes in winter. I have hundreds of them hibernating right now in the rafters of my big old gambrel barn.

Best thing to do is put him back in the attic.
Put him where mice and rats can reach him, as he"s pretty defenseless.

He/she survives by eating insects, and there aren"t any to be had in your locale at this time of year. You don"t want him to wake up due to being in the warm house, because he"ll starve to death. Once the weather warms back up he"ll wake up and leave the house. He can"t survive in your attic in summer, it"s too hot.

Plug up the hole(s) he"s using to get in once spring/summer rolls around and he moves out.

There"s a good discussion of bat migration here:
http://batcon.org/index.php/media-and-info/bats-archives.html?task=viewArticle&magArticleID=503

It turns out most bats survive the winter by hibernating in caves. They "migrate" north, south, east, or west to their favorite cave, often 100 or 200 miles.

Only a few species go all the way to Mexico or other tropical places.
bat migration

The farm house had them in the attic all of the time. I fought the battle the whole time I lived there. They usually hibernate in a cave or such but in the old farm house it leaked enough heat into the attic they just stayed year round.

I finally just built a shelf under the very top of the gable. That catches all of the bat droppings. I just dump it every winter while they sleep above it in the warm space. The dropping make great nature fertilizer for the garden.

JD, I've had them show up during early spring right after a cold snap and they've always been gone the next day and Dennis, as I was reading your reply I started laughing almost really hard, I was picturing myself doing the same thing and I agree that the phrase batoutofhell does come to mind

I'd call state conservation folks, see if they have
a game farm or rescue that can take him.

Here in mid Mn. they winter in attics and sheds etc. I don't know the species.

Patrick,

You'd have laughed heartily had you been witness.

D.

We used to have them in the old farm house I grew up in. I remember getting up to go school one morning and I went downstairs and there was one hanging upside down in the living room. I'm with you on I hate to kill anything unless I have too. I don't even bother snakes unless it's a poisonous snake here at the house. All the others I fuss if someone does try to kill them. I would try to find a place for it and that was kind of you to bring it in.

I found a dead bat in our basement a couple of years ago. Don't know how he got in. We rarely have the doors or windows open down there.

Larry

while I usually let critters coexist with me,
bats, rodents/vermin are a different story.
whacking a poison drunk rat with a shovel or dispatching a bat
is just a necessary thing in the country with an old house.
If you want it to live, put it back in the attic.

I used to leave bats alone, but after a 2 year battle to get them out of my house...
(I was raised to leave them alone, cuz they eat bugs)
smell, urine/waste collapsing ceilings, almost daily having one find a way in and flying around inside the house...enough is enough.
very tough battle..they can get in the tiniest hole.
BTW, if you found one, there are many, many more up there.....

Bats are nothing to get chummy with. They are known carriers of rabies which can be contracted through contact with secretions such as saliva, feces, etc. not only bites. I knew an 11 year old girl who died of rabies and was not bitten. REMEMBER: Rabies is 100% preventable. REMEMBER: Rabies is 100% incurable. Once you get it, you're DEAD!

You cannot contract rabies through contact with feces. Period.

It is possible (though very rare) to contract rabies through non-bite contact with open wounds, or mucous membranes such as the mouth or eyes. The contact must be to saliva or brain/nerve tissue, not fur, feces, urine, tears, etc.

The CDC has very clear statements about this at the link below.
CDC discussion of rabies transmissiom