Well, I'm officially disturbed...

zoeysmom

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I'm enjoying a quiet night at home. Laying on the couch, I suddenly hear Delilah start to meow. Delilah doesn't really meow that much, so I look to see where she is. She's at the closed window, behind the curtain. She sees a squirrel or something outside, I think. So, being the nice mom that I am, I open the curtains and the window so that she can have a better view.

I go warm up a cinnamon roll for dessert. I come back, put my plate on the table, and notice that both Belle and Delilah are starting at the ceiling. Ok, maybe it's a bug she saw, since they often stare at the walls/ceiling when there is a bug to be stalked. No big deal, I'm OK with bugs as long as they are not near me (or I see them and they have a lot of legs).

I look up to see if I can see the bug. Suddenly, I see something small and black move near the curtain rod. It looks a little rodent like. I'm starting to get a little scared, more so that I want to get the cats away from whatever it is. I figure maybe a mole or something (I've been told a mole on the ceiling is a ridiculous thought, but what do I know?) climbed in through a small hole in the screen. Now, normally unidentified rodents would frighten me, but I figure it's at the top of the curtain, it's not going to hurt me too much before we catch it.

So, I start to turn to get my boyfriend, relatively calmly. As I turn, the black, rodent-like thing moves a little more. As I start to call my boyfriend, I realize what is actually in our apartment...this is how it goes:

Denis, there's a BAT IN HERE!!!

By this time, having realized it was a bat when it started fluttering by my head, I am pretty much at the other end of the apartment, near the kitchen where the BF is doing dishes. As he realized what I've said and sees that I (who is shielding my head with my arms and staring at the ceiling) am clearly going to be of no use, starts to take action (meanwhile thinking this is pretty much the neatest thing ever). "Get the cats in the bedrooms," I say. So, he collects each of the cats and gets them in the bedroom, which I'm sure disappoints them greatly, as they think they found a great new toy.

Then, the search for a way to get rid of the bat begins. After looking for a way to capture him, he grabs a broom. Somehow (I wouldn't know, because I wasn't going back in the room), he gets it out onto the screened in porch and shuts the door. "Great," I say..."Now what?". So, off he goes to the porch to take one of the screens out to release it back outside. Now, the thing is, these aren't really screens that are made to be taken off. They are attached by 4 little hook and eye locks, which at one point I'm sure opened, but have been painted (and therefore sealed together) over at least twice.

So, I watch through the windows on the doors as my boyfriend dodges the bat, which is flying in circles around his head, not happy to be trapped in a 10x10 area. After some struggling, the screen comes loose and the BF "brooms" the bat out the opening in a few tries. Screen goes back on, and all is good in the world again.

Now, I'm sure there are some folks out there that are used to this type of occurance. However, I have never seen a bat, let alone found one flying around in my house. I was thoroughly disturbed by the whole thing, so much so that I couldn't really eat my cinnamon roll, which I had been looking forward to for quite some time!


I don't know how it got in, and I'm not sure I want to know. The expected culprit is the attic. However, no one has been up in the attic since this morning. Which means that this bat would have been hiding out in the house all day. Needless to say, this doesn't make me feel any better. I won't be going up in the attic alone anytime soon.

Wow...that was a long description on my 5 minute ordeal this evening. I'm hoping for no repeats anytime soon. The cats, however, welcome any flying rodents to come play.
 

wellingtoncats

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I'm a fan of bats so cannot empathise with your experience but I just wanted to clear one thing up. Bats are not rodents but are instead with the chiroptera order.
 

mrblanche

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I think she said "rodent-like," which is pretty accurate, at first glance.

The reaction to bats is pretty visceral, for some reason. I've had to get them out of the house many years ago. And, of course, we have plenty of bats in this area.
 
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zoeysmom

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Originally Posted by WellingtonCats

I'm a fan of bats so cannot empathise with your experience but I just wanted to clear one thing up. Bats are not rodents but are instead with the chiroptera order.
Actually, I did know that. I wikipedia-ed it, but "flying Chiroptera" just doesn't have the same effect!
 

katiemae1277

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I know bats do a great thing, eat insects, and are really very harmless to people, but that would have freaked me out big time!
 
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zoeysmom

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Originally Posted by katiemae1277

I know bats do a great thing, eat insects, and are really very harmless to people, but that would have freaked me out big time!
Haha...yes, we'd have to have an awful lot of insects in here before a pet bat appealed to me! I'd like it if, from now on, they can eat the insects outside.
 

wellingtoncats

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Originally Posted by zoeysmom

Wow...that was a long description on my 5 minute ordeal this evening. I'm hoping for no repeats anytime soon. The cats, however, welcome any flying rodents to come play.
Originally Posted by mrblanche

I think she said "rodent-like," which is pretty accurate, at first glance.

The reaction to bats is pretty visceral, for some reason. I've had to get them out of the house many years ago. And, of course, we have plenty of bats in this area.
She did say rodent like but also said flying rodents.


Didn't come here to argue I think it's fascinating, personally. I just looked at a few websites about them as I didn't know myself
 

bookworm

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I think bats are totaly cool, but living in an area that has had an increase in rabies the last few years I am terrified of encountering them, as well as racoons. My cats and dogs are all current on their vaccinations, but I'm not vaccinated!


BTW, congrats on having a boyfriend who will do dishs! I had one, but then I married him and he became an instant couch potato.
 

snake_lady

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Originally Posted by mbjerkness

I'd be screaming
They can live outside and eat all the bugs they want.
Originally Posted by white cat lover

I love bats - just not in my house. I'm a sissy when it comes to bats.
that bout sums it up for me. Thankfully, there aren't too many around my current area....but we did have a couple in the house at my moms. My stepfather would grab em in a coffee jar.
 

Ms. Freya

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I love bats, and for the most part they don't bother me...so long ar they're at least 3 feet away at all times.


That description of your boyfriend chasing the bat out absolutely made my morning.
 

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Oh, dear. This happened when I lived with my parents. That bat looked like something out of a vampire movie. It looked like it had the wingspan of an eagle. My parents were so calm, but I did the appropriate thing in that situation by screaming at the top of my lungs and running around with my hands covering my head. Finally, my dad told me to go stand outside so he could do the broom chase.
 

3catsn1dog

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Im in the same boat with you...Well minus the BF doing dishes!! I would have been FREAKING out running thru the house screaming! If I see a bat out the window flying around I make BF take the dog out because I cant stand them they give me the willies big time!!!!
 

darkmavis

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Yeah bats in the house are.. yeah they're not cool.


One summer maybe about 7-8 years ago when I was still at my mom's house we had 2 bats in the same summer. Never before, never since. Not sure where they came in, but both times it was an ordeal. First time I called my uncle over since my mom was out, and my uncle and cousin and I finally caught it in a bowl and slid cardboard under it and threw it outside. It was in my bedroom and we had to move my bed, and my late cat Cleo was sleeping under my bed like she often did. Well the movement scared her and she RAN to get out of the room and smacked right into the closed door. Poor girl! She was ok though.

About a week or 2 after that there was a bat in my mom's bedroom, and I thought i was an expert now after that first one so i eventually broomed it out the window. It was like a rush, but still scary and heebie-jeebiefying, if that's a word...
 

ckatz

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Before I tell my bat story, let me state I am a city girl always been. I have no interest in living anywhere but a major metropolian area.

A few years ago a girlfriend of mine was dating this guy who had a beautiful country house he had built himself. We went to visit him and spend the day in the country. It was early evening very peaceful , I was relaxing in a lounge on the porch thinking "this is so nice I could live here". When I noticed a flock of birds overhead. I mentioned this to my friend and her boyfriend. Mr. Mountain Man says "That's not birds they're bats". I then replied " Time for me to go home". My friend said she had never seen me move faster-I think I was in the car and back in the city in about 30 seconds.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by ckatz

Before I tell my bat story, let me state I am a city girl always been. I have no interest in living anywhere but a major metropolian area.

A few years ago a girlfriend of mine was dating this guy who had a beautiful country house he had built himself. We went to visit him and spend the day in the country. It was early evening very peaceful , I was relaxing in a lounge on the porch thinking "this is so nice I could live here". When I noticed a flock of birds overhead. I mentioned this to my friend and her boyfriend. Mr. Mountain Man says "That's not birds they're bats". I then replied " Time for me to go home". My friend said she had never seen me move faster-I think I was in the car and back in the city in about 30 seconds.


I also like bats. At the cottage we would sit on the dock in our chairs and watch them flying around catching insects.

I think they have a bad reputation that is not deserved - much like Siamese cats.
 

bbdoll22

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This is the first year we havent had a bat in the house. we always get 1 or 2 every summer. I've never gotten used to it, scream and run. the scariest was 3 am waking to a horrible sound, it was the bat screaming cause the cat caught it. she catches them all except for once. so needless to say we had to take the bat to the health dept to see if it had rabies cause the cat had contact with it. they know us pretty well at the health dept, they see hubby and say oh no not another bat.
 

auntie crazy

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Originally Posted by zoeysmom

.....Denis, there's a BAT IN HERE!!!
Absolutely freaking hysterical. I laughed so loud my neighbors heard me through the living room windows.

I like bats and have been known to sit and watch them catch bugs, but I can totally empathize with your feelings. And I will, just as soon as I stop laughing.......
 
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