Bat in the House

[QRTRHRS]

I have had success at home with the open window trick. Not so much when I worked in semi-conductor manufacturing. The area I mostly worked in was not a clean room. Rather, it was open and pretty high due to the heighth of the machinery. The bats would get caught in magnetic fields and fly as if they were intoxicated, lol! I used to take off the dark smock that I wore and hold it open like a sheet. The bats would usually fly into the smock and cling to it while I took it outside and set them free. Of course I would throw the smock in the laundry and grab a fresh one.

 

[Egon]

Short hair; you'll need a wig and a hair net. When Barry lands in your hair just peel off the hair net around him and take him outside.

 

[MossRoad]

We've had several bats in our house over the years. Here's what I've learned....

When it starts getting dark in the house, they look for the twilight of sunset. If the lights are on in the house, they tend to fly towards the light. That's why they fly into the room with the lights or TV on. So if you turn off all the lights in the house, open the door and turn on the outside porch light, they'll probably head outside pretty quick. At the end of the night, they look for the sunrise, and start heading inside. If you have lights on in your attic, they will be discouraged to roost there, as they like dark places. So, put lights in your attic and leave them on 24/7. Cheap CFLs or LEDS work wonders.

Here's my thoughts on rabies.... bats have been known to carry the virus. They find several infected bats in our area each year. There are only three-four known human survivors of rabies. It's 99.999% fatal in humans. Statistically, NO ONE SURVIVES RABIES!

So, after much discussion with my doctor, several veterinarians, the health department, etc... here's what they recommend. If everyone in your house is awake, and you spot a bat in the house, and you are 100% sure no one was bitten, scratched, or had any fluids from the bat land in their eyes, open mouth or cuts or abrasions on human skin, you can probably just open the doors and windows and shoo the bat outside.

If, however, you have small children, or any older children or adults were asleep and cannot be certain the bat was not in their sleeping area, or the bat came in physical contact with a person (IE, landed on them), its best to err on the side of caution, capture the bat, seal it in a container, and take it to the agency in your county that deals with bats and rabies testing. Its best to get it there alive, too, as they start to decompose if you kill them. The agency will euthanize the bat, pack it accordingly if necessary, and get it tested for rabies.

Here's a little horror story for you all....

We had a bat in the house and we had little kids. We caught the bat and we called the health department for advice. They recommended having it tested for rabies, as the kids were asleep in their beds and their doors were open and we couldn't be sure they were not bitten. They had us call the humane society. The humane society picked up the bat and took it to a local veterinarian who handles all of the bat cases in our county (they average 2-3 per day, every day, spring-fall). The vet euthanizes the bat, packs it in dry ice, puts it on a Greyhound bus and it gets sent to the health department in Indianapolis for testing. Here's where it gets bad:
Health Dept: "They'll call you if the bat tests positive for rabies."
Me: OK. Sounds great. Will they call us if the bat tests negative?
Health Dept: "No, they only call if it tests positive."
Me: How do I know if they even test it?
Health Dept: "Huh. Never thought of that. We've been using this system for years and that question has never come up."
Me: Can I have the number for the bat testing lab in Indianapolis? I'd like to be sure.
Health Dept said OK and was very cooperative and said they'll call the bat lab in Indy for me. I say thanks and feel better.

Health Department calls me back and says the bat lab in Indy has been closed for weeks for remodeling and they don't know where my bat on the bus is. We may have to get rabies shots for the whole family, your insurance doesn't cover that and its gonna be several thousand dollars for all four members of your family. Plus, they lost all of the other bats that were sent down there, for a bunch of other families as well.

To make a long story even longer.... I called the veterinarian, who was livid to learn of this. He called Greyhound, and they had a record of someone from the state health department picking it up at the bus station. But the lab is closed. More digging and he found that the Indy lab has been sending the bats to Kentucky for testing during the remodeling. I googled something like "Kentucky bat rabies program" and came up with the name of the head of the rabies program in Kentucky and on a chance called the number I had googled as well. The guy actually answered his phone! I told him my story, he was very kind and said he'd call me back shortly (which I figured, yeah, sure you will buddy). But he did call me back, he said he found our bat, it was tested, and it was negative for rabies. WHEW!!!

I have some contacts at our local paper, and they did a couple stories on this, and the problems with the bat testing, and how while my family was lucky, unfortunately, another family had to go through the round of rabies shots because they never found that family's bat. As a result, the program has changed, people are now notified of the results of bat testing, positive OR negative. But on a downside, you now have to pay up-front a $25.00 fee to have the bat tested through the humane society. Since then, we've had three more bats in the house. One was let go, and unfortunately, we had to send two in for testing.

So, if you have a bat in your house, think about it before shooing it out, or grabbing it, or killing it, etc.... before taking action. Its in your best interest.

As for how to catch them? We have a butterfly net from Walmart for about $8.00. Aim in front of the bat about 6", take a swipe, and you'll get it on the 3rd or 4th try! :laughing:

 

[gwstang]

That poor kid did not even know he had bitten until it was too late. I suspect that is the reason for having a family get the shots, if they don't know or were asleep. My oldest son, when he was 5, found a racoon that was sick. He was down by the dirt road on his bike. he came back to the house and told the red head who told him to keep away until she got dressed to go outside. Well, he zoomed down there and got scratched of course. She had to push it into a cage, it was sick of course, and take it to a vet so he could take the head off and send it to the health lab. Cost me $85 to the vet for his services and it was rabid of course. Cost me $800 for the medicine/shots. I'm just glad he turned out ok. Money is no object when a loved one is concerned. He's 30 now and still doesn't mind too well.

 

[Wagtail]

Short hair; you'll need a wig and a hair net. When Barry lands in your hair just peel off the hair net around him and take him outside.

That'll have to be Plan B in the future, if Plan A doesn't work again.

I've read MossRoad's missive; Indeed, Barry flew out the door that was opened toward 'sunset'. It's summer down here so twilight would've been the time he came down from upstairs.

Both MossRoad & gwstang have expressed concern over rabies... it's not that I've been flippant or dismissive, it's just that rabies is not present in Australia:

"Rabies and Australian Bat Lyssavirus

Note Number: AG1016
Bronwyn Murdoch, Attwood
Updated: Updated: January 2007

Rabies is a viral disease that affects warm-blooded animals including humans. It is characterised by a variable incubation period, nervous signs, paralysis and death. It is a disease for which there is no known cure.

Distribution

Rabies occurs in many countries and on many continents throughout the world. Currently Japan, New Zealand, Great Britain, a number of island nations and Australia are the only countries considered to be free of the virus."

So, considering all of the other critters (and flora) that are deadly down here, it's nice to have a 'win' every now and then.

 

[oosik]

I'm very familiar with rabies & rabies procedures. For over 20 years I worked for the Health Dept in Anchorage and again here.

There was ALWAY a couple of things we stress involving rabies -

1) if a person is bit, scratched or otherwise come in contact with the animals bodily fluids and a rabies test is in order - DO NOT DAMAGE THE HEAD. The brain tissue is what is tested for rabies. So many folks would shoot a the animal in the head with a gun and invariably the head could not be tested.

2) when you handle the animal wear appropriate gloves and discard them when the animal is containerized. WASH YOUR HANDS afterward - like your life depended upon it - because that could be the case.

We would normally send off, for testing, 20-30 animals per year in Anchorage. During the construction phase of the Alaska pipeline - a lot of the tests were on the Arctic Fox. They are extremely tame, would come into the construction camps for offered food and would invariably end up biting a construction worker.

 

[gwstang]

"We would normally send off, for testing, 20-30 animals per year in Anchorage. During the construction phase of the Alaska pipeline - a lot of the tests were on the Arctic Fox. They are extremely tame, would come into the construction camps for offered food and would invariably end up biting a construction worker."

Interesting. When I think of rabies, I usually think of hot weather type places. I live in the deep south and it seems in the summer/fall is when rabies infected animals show up. I don't recall any cold weather incidents. Maybe it's just that people in general don't come into contact with the critters that normally carry the disease?

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a U.S. CDC map from 2009... northern east coast is the most concentrated.

 

[QRTRHRS]

MossRoad, I would say that 25 bucks for testing more than reasonable for sure. Thank you for perservering and the positive change that came out of it.

 

[MossRoad]

MossRoad, I would say that 25 bucks for testing more than reasonable for sure. Thank you for perservering and the positive change that came out of it.

Thank you for testing our bats! :laughing: