Third bat of the summer

[elizilla]

Last night we had another bat incursion. This one was larger than the last one, or at least it seemed pretty large when it was flying around the bedroom. Maybe 8 or 10 inch wingspan. So we did the usual, open the doorwall and wait for it to fly out. And it did find its way downstairs, briefly. But instead of flying out, it came back upstairs and circled the bedroom some more, then went into the bathroom and didn't come back out. We eventually pursued it into the bathroom and couldn't see it. Where did it go? We turned the lights back off and listened carefully. There was a scrabbling noise in the bathroom, but not like it was flying. Was it banging itself against the window screen?

Steve went back into the bathroom and spotted it. It was hanging from the vanity light. Just sitting there. We decided to turn that light on, thinking the bat would not like it and would therefore start moving again. But it didn't. Steve poked at it with the fly swatter and it would NOT leave the light fixture. It made little bat screech noises and stayed where it was. We waited and waited and it scrabbled around but didn't take off.

Finally we realized what was happening. The tip of the bat's wing was caught between the decorative base of the light fixture, and the wall. Steve went and got a long fork, and pried the cover away enough to free the bat. It fell to the floor of the bathroom, not dead but completely spent. It just sat there.

So he captured it in a plastic storage container, and took it outside. When he tipped the container onto its side, the bat took off. I hope he recovered from his misadventure and ate lots of mosquitoes last night. I don't think we injured him with the flyswatter, but when we didn't realize he was trapped and we turned on the light to push him away, it probably got hot enough to seriously stress the poor little critter.

I suppose I need to get more serious and do something about these bats.

Comments

[greyhat.livejournal.com]

towels are great for catching bats. On the floor or lamp, especially, but also when they fly close to a wall, you can toss the towel over it, pin it to the wall, and then grasp it and carry it outside. Just for the times when they don't want to leave on their own.