Bat Removal

Last night when I got home around 11:00 p.m. I noticed that hanging on the wall next to my front door was a small bat all folded up. At first I thought it was a large beetle about 3 inches long but upon closer look it turned out to be a small bat. I think it's a small brown bat. This morning I opened up my door again and he was still there. What should I do?

Thank him quietly and let him be. He's eating the bugs that want to feed on you and inject you with various unpleasant viruses, etc. You can read more about him here.

When he warms up he'll be on his way. If you're really lucky he'll find a handy crevice in your house and stick around. He might be looking to stake out some turf to attract a mate.

Well, other than calling someone to remove it, you could don a hat, headnet and gloves and try to catch it with a butterfly or fishing net.

I tried this once when we had one in our camp. I then opened the windows and removed the screens, hoping it would fly out uninjured.

I kept searching for it without success. After a considerable period of time, I found the poor thing dead and drowned in our toilet. I then flushed my troubles down the drain.

Score one for the guy leaving the seat up!!

Bats are great! Build a bat house (book) and attract a whole flock (swarm, coven, colony, school, pod, whatever).

If it's outside, I'd agree, just leave it be... it will fly away eventually. They do eat lots of bugs.

When I was a teenager, our house seemed to be a bat haven... I think we had one flying around inside about a half-dozen times, they were getting in through the laundry room (It is for this reason that I know what happens when a bat goes through a cycle in a washing machine... but I digress...) My grandfather would come over and carefully wrap it in a towel to bring it back outside. He would shake the towel out and the bat would fly away. As I was in my early teens, my job was just to scream hysterically... but I don't remember him having much trouble plucking the bats off of whatever they were hanging on at the time.

- Ivy

I agree with the others' view if the bat is outside. My recommendation was for an indoor bat.

Marty

Although bats are beneficial bug-eaters, they are also major carriers of rabies. I don't think you should ignore a bat in the house in the hope it will find its way out. I've found they are easy to catch with a large diameter fishing net, and can usually be released without harm (or risk) by inverting the net outside.

Bat in the house solution-
Stop screaming at high frequencies. s/he may be jsut as freaked out as the humans. Open all of the windows, shut off the light and go away for awhile. Thye usualy find thier way out.

If they are nesting in a crack in your siding or a small whole (bewtween the size of a nickel and quarter) they can leave small grease rings. To some they are trouble. I think they are amazing.

AOC-1 said:

Although bats are beneficial bug-eaters, they are also major carriers of rabies. I don't think you should ignore a bat in the house in the hope it will find its way out. I've found they are easy to catch with a large diameter fishing net, and can usually be released without harm (or risk) by inverting the net outside.

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From the Organization for Bat Conservation -- Bats and Humans:

"Bats can get the rabies virus, but the incidence of bats and rabies is very low, usually only about one half of one percent of bats tested, test positive for the virus. If you take into consideration that people have a much higher chance of getting attacked by a dog, falling down a flight of stairs, or being struck by lightning and dying than dying of a bat bite you can see that rabies is rare. Chances are even better of winning your state lottery, than getting bitten by a bat with rabies. Here are a few notable diseases reported in 1995 in the United States: Chlamydia, 477,638; Gonorrhea, 392,848; AIDS, 71,547; Hepatitis, 41,000; Lyme Disease, 11,700; Syphilis, 68,953; Salmonellosis, 45,970; Whopping Cough, 5,137; E. Coli, 2,139; Malaria, 1,419; Mumps, Measles, 309; Botulism, 97; Toxic Shock Syndrome, 191; Tetanus, 41; Trichinoses, 29; Plague, 9; Rabies, 5; Poliomyelitis, 2."

EDIT: The CDC has a somehat different perspective on Bats and Rabies, stating that "[m]ost of the recent human rabies cases in the United States have been caused by rabies virus from bats." They also note the beneficial effects of bat consumption of insects.

As for bats in your belfry, the CDC advises:

"Some bats live in buildings, and there may be no reason to evict them if there is little chance for contact with people. However, bats should always be prevented from entering rooms of your home. For assistance with"bat-proofing" your home, contact an animal-control or wildlife conservation agency. If you choose to do the "bat-proofing" yourself, here are some suggestions. Carefully examine your home for holes that might allow bats entry into your living quarters. Any openings larger than a quarter-inch by a half-inch should be caulked. Use window screens, chimney caps, and draft-guards beneath doors to attics, fill electrical and plumbing holes with stainless steel wool or caulking, and ensure that all doors to the outside close tightly.

Aesop -
I spent many years as a NYS Certified Pest Control Operator and worked with a lot of bats. I might be able to help...

If I understand the bat is on the wall outside of your house and not inside? and was still remaining somewhat dormant even at night? If this is the case, it might be diseased or injured. I don't know if bats can expire while hanging and remain in the position for any amount of time, but I am also curious to how cold it was out last night where you live - That could also affect it's behavior.

Look down the wall and directly under the bat on the ground - Do you see any droppings - Guano - It might be greenish brown or whitish brown. any lack of that might point ot a diseased or dead bat.

I think it is too late in teh season for it to be a young bat out on it's own for the first time and since they live in colonies, Young don't get pushed out on their own.

In any event, is there another door you can use for the next 24 hours, alllowing you to keep an eye on the bat? If not, skip to the next section, otherwise read on here.... If you can use another door, use it and keep an eye on the bat tonight, it might leave at dusk tonight. If the bat remains, I would suspect that something is wrong with it and you will need to remove it tomorrow.

To remove it You will need
1.Heavy leather gloves (although a small % of bats carry rabies, you simply never want to take a chance - especially if the bat is acting abnormal) The $3.00 canvas/leather railroad gloves you buy at Home Depot work great and you can wash or discard them when you are done.

2. A coffee can or jar - Larger isn't always better - the size depends on where exactly on the wall the bat is hanging and if you can cover the entire openeing of the can on the wall section (obviously this won't work on say a door jamb that is 2 inches wide)

3. A sheet of cardboard.

Place the can or jar opening over the bat and against the wall and slide the cardboard between the wall and the opening - causing the bat to release itself and fall/fly into the container. remove the container and cardboard cover carefully and carry it away from your house. Set it down on the ground with the cover still on - You can then either use a rake or long handled instrument to knock the cover off while sanding at a distance or toss a small stone at the can to knock it over. (you could even be creative and tape a long piece of fishing line to the top and back off 30 feet with the line and then pull the cardboard cover off.)

OK, if the bat is in a tight area where you cannot get a container over it (more likely situation), You can use a rake or other long object such as a broom and give the creature a little nudge - It might fly at you but there are high odds it won't hit or attack you - If you feel more comfortable, don some glasses a hat and your leather gloves. Try to nudge the bat off the position - It will either fall just a bit and take off or it will hit the ground. If it hits the ground it is likely diseased or injured. Either way put it in a sealed container and put it in the trash. also, Your local farm/Ag Coop or Extension office might have a passing interest to see if it is rabid.

Let me know how it works out please.

Let it be...

While I agree with Sardog1 on the bat issue-keep in mind that they can also carry diseases, so don't touch or harrass it in anyway. Wear gloves to remove it if it expires.

Otherwise- enjoy a close encounter with another mammal, and one who has achieved one of our species' long cherished dreams... that of flight, and long before Leonardo and the Wright Brothers.

In the house? Tennis racket.

Outside the house? Nothing.

I'm sure the tennis racket suggestion is facetious, but this thread has dredged up some bad memories that I'd now like to burden you all with. For some reason, my old house (built in 1838) is a bat magnet. In recent years, we've had a dozen or so inside the house. On the first occasion, we discovered it in the morning in my 6 year-old daughter's room. We feared it had been there all night. What to do? We weighed the risks (extremely low) against the consequences (our daughter's death). Out came the tennis racket! It was ugly, and a mistake because in order to test a bat for rabies the brain must be intact. A good backhand stroke will pulverize a bat brain but good. Luckily, my tennis game is poor (for awhile the bat was actually winning), and, after freezing, just enough tissue remained to confirm a negative test result.

I am a pacifist at heart, so I was determined never to repeat that sorry episode. The next time I heard my wife scream in a pitch so distinctively high it could mean only one thing - "little brown bat on premises" - I already knew what I was going to do: Nothing. I opened the windows, and suggested we "go to the movies." She had an alternative idea, "Let's move!" But doing nothing worked; on our return the bat was gone. Total cost - $20 for movie tickets. Then, my wife insisted we call in professionals to bat-proof the house. Cost - $600!! The company's guarantee expired and, predictably, a few days later my wife let out a high-pitched scream.

Over the years, I've found the "just leave them alone" approach doesn't always work. The little buggers are small and you can't always tell when they have vacated the premises. The ones who don't make it out the first night invariably die from dehydration. (My wife's discovery of these is communicated by a less frantic, but characteristically tell-all shriek.) So now I have adopted a no-ifs-ands-or-buts "fishing net capture and release" policy. It's cheap, safe, and effective. Fun even. But I still can't get my wife to play.

AOC-1's post dredged up some memories of my own. In the 1980s, I lived in an attic apartment in the west end of Hartford (CT). One night, in the middle of a wonderful slumber, I awoke to my cat chasing around a brown blob flying through my bedroom. As I tried to clear my head from the cobwebs of sleep, the danged thing (the brown blob, not my cat) landed in my lap! I quickly shooed at this fluttering thing and it flew away. I turned on the lights, and found it _ yes, you guessed it, a little brown bat _ hanging upside down from a picture in my bathroom. I opened the window, closed the bathroom door, and when I awoke in the morning, it was gone. Phew!

Turn off all the lights in the house, open doors/windows and turn on a couple outdoor lights(hopefully near the open door/window) -- the bat will move toward the light eventually. Of course if it's daylight this won't work...

dug said:

In the house? Tennis racket.

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I am sure that this is a joke also but I guarentee that it will get you a series of rabies shots when he explodes and sprays fluids all over you.

I agree with SarDog. I like bats. I don't want to have contact with them. Any contact. Like the CDC says they are a very high risk in human transfer of rabies. Get a professional to remove one inside unless it can be done without any contact. Personally I don't care where it is inside. They can get through and like very small openings. If they are inside anywhere they are too close. The bites or contact they can make can be made without being felt, especially during sleep and the person will never know they have been infected until the diagnosis and then it is too late. If it is near an entrance I would have it removed. Not to fear monger as the number of rabies deaths in the US are extremely low.

My brother got to go through a series of shots because an idiot he was working with got scared by one on a job so he killed it and nailed it to a wall as "warning" to other bats. Because of all the blood everyone involved had to get shots.

Keith

Actually, it wasn't facetious, unfortunately. Bats periodically get into my house, and after chasing throughout some have been taken out. Now, I'm not saying to go Boris Becker on it, but a slight swing and with them flying right into it, you will probably just stun it. Pick it up and bring it out. When it comes to my families safety (and my sanity) vs. the bat, the bat will lose. I haven't had any explode.

As a former house painter, I have noticed that some house attract bats, while others nearby don't. They are also persistent (as some other posters have noted!) I often found bats when removing shutters to paint behind them. Surprise! They also like the small space where trim boards are installed over clapboards. As Rick said, the guano is a giveaway. I have only rarely seen a bat in the open on a wall, and I expect that would be a temporary stopover.

My next-door neighbors have a lot of bats living in their attic, under the eaves. I don't think they know. When a new roof a couple years ago closed up some of their holes, new holes were found and utilized. It is great entertainment to go out in the back yard at dusk, preferably with a campfire and the beverage of choice, and count the bats dropping out of the eaves next door! Our highest count was 72 bats. The bats circle around our yards, and then go off hunting into the woods.

Good luck, and have fun with the little guys!

I often found bats when removing shutters to paint behind them

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Bingo, my father's house had (non-functional-decorative) wood shingles and we encountered a bat when painting the house many years ago, he kind of flew out and circles the area for a bit before leaving somewhere. And we did get a bat in the house once but I think we managed to get him/her to fly out somehow. I don't remember, I was very young at the time.

Jay

Bat Flew Away

The bat was outside my front door for about 24 hours. I went home after work yesterday and he was still hanging out in the same spot. So I viewed him for a while mostly out of curiosity and left him alone. Later on last night once it was dark out he started to unfold himself and I got a more intersting view of him. Dark Brown color, little pink ears and a bearded face.

Once he figured out that I was nearby he started moving around and as I made my way closer to the door he freaked out and flew away. It was cool.