There’s A Bat in My House!

July 19, 2018

Question: Late one night recently, a bat flew into my house through an open window! I was sitting at the table and it flew right at me with its huge webbed wings. I swear it looked like it was in full in attack mode. I hid in another room for a while, and then opened the door to find it hanging upside down from the smoke detector. Eventually we caught it with a dustpan and a broom and let it go. I like bats, but not in my house. Please tell me this aggressive behavior doesn’t mean it was rabid! (Rebecca M., Davis)

Answer: You certainly had an interesting encounter! While it’s possible the bat’s apparently aggressive behavior could have been caused by rabies infection, it’s far more likely the bat was simply disoriented from entering your home, encountering bright lights (and you!) and could not easily find an exit. The prevalence of rabies in bat populations is generally quite low (typically lower than in other wild animals that are carriers of the disease, such as gray foxes, striped skunks and raccoons).

When a bat enters a home or other building, it’s best to stay calm, move deliberately, and open more windows and doors leading to the outside. The bat will eventually use its echolocation ability to find an exit. If the bat is obviously sick and unable to fly, do not pick it up with your bare hands! It is best to use tongs or other means to place it in a container. Contact your local public health department and request they test it for rabies.

One other possible cause of sickness in bats is the fungal disease White Nose Syndrome (WNS). WNS recently arrived on the West Coast in Washington state and has killed more than 6 million bats in the eastern U.S. and Canada. The disease affects hibernating bats, causing them to wake up in the winter and burn energy reserves needed to sustain them through the cold season when their insect prey is unavailable. So, if you see a sick or weak, emaciated bat in winter that is unable to fly, please notify the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) at its “Report a Sick Bat” webpage for possible follow-up, in addition to your local public health department. Such reports are an important part of our efforts to understand WNS and its impacts on bat populations.

Batty Batty Batty!!

I saw one flying around last night, just after dusk.  I haven't seen them in my backyard before but I would think their presence is a good thing in terms of insect control.  Too bad they don't eliminate skunks and coyotes.  Both have been a problem in our neighborhood this year.  Several small dogs have been attacked by the coyotes, They seem to have become very bold lately,  I see them on my morning walk in the open spaces and they don't show any fear.  They stop and stare and get within 40 to 50 yards before moving on.  I think my German Shepard is probably a pretty good deterrent to their potential aggressive behavior.  I don't think I would walk a small dog in the neighborhood open spaces while these animals are displaying such aggressive behavior. 

I have a wooden one by each door next to my shotguns.

One flew into a cabin I was staying at last summer and I nabbed that bastard with my fishing net. Felt like a cartoon dog napper.

turn off all lights in the house.open front door,turn on porch light.the bat will fly toward the light and out the door.works every time.bats carry rabies so this will also keep you away from them

Lol@ I hid in the other room

Had a huge one in my living room last month while I was watching TV.
We were waiting on screens and blinds so we had zero window treatments.
I went to bed and shut the door. It was gone by the morning.
And yea, pretty much the same as hiding in the other room.

Yet another thing to do with a fishing net, catch them unharmed.

This happens at my new home too as the gables and high windows in my house kind of make very easy for them to come in.

I've watched them,, their basically just like fish chasing after bait fish, chasing mosquitos and other flying insects into the side of our house, trapping them.

Interesting is, there are dozens if not hundreds around, it's easy for them to get inside, we've only had one.

the one that got inside, I couldn't believe it's speed and ability to move about our house and right up to my face without hitting anything ,,

I eventually just opened one door, turned down the lights till the door became a dark area,, and the bat flew right out immediately,,

don't know if that helps, but were living in harmony with our bats and being their main diet is mosquitoes,

their my friends ,,, 

I was moving from one place to another in Nevada City and pulled an empty box out of the rafters in the garage to  pack stuff in.  When I brought it into the house and opened it, there was what looked like a 10 inch diameter ball of some kind of gray, fuzzy mold in one of the corners of the box so I took it outside because I didn't want some kind of spore release in the house.  When I set it down just outside the front door, the "mold" ball exploded right in my face.  Put me right on my can.  It was a  bundle of bats that probably had been hibernating (it was Spring).  Once I recovered I could only hope that the weather was warm enough that they would be OK.  One of those moments....

At about 5:00am today I was downstairs, and. I heard a scream from upstairs. I immediately thought that my wife must have seen a mouse. She's got a serious rodent phobia, and we live in the woods with thriving mouse, rat, and squirrel populations. I'm constantly at war with the rodents, and have sealed every nook and cranny--we've not had any rodent in the house since the first year that we lived here (which was 15 year ago).

However, this was no rodent, but instead it was a bat. While she hid, I tried chasing the bat out, and when that wasn't working, I tried to capture it, but accidentally killed it in the process. I think it's a "little brown bat". I'm baffled as to how it could have gotten into the living space, as mice can probably get thru much smaller spaces than this bat.

I've seen bats flying around in the evening, but only a couple of times, and not for several years. So, I thought that they were not common here. We have a very weird "attic" space--at some point in the distant past, somebody added on to the house, and instead of fixing the roof properly, they simply built a new roof over the old roof. Now I'm worried that that weird space might be a bat house...

In my area bats are pretty common.  Could probably spot them every night if I looked for them right at sundown.  Seem to like open areas they can hunt insects easily. 

I swear it looked like it was in full in attack mode. I hid in another room for a while, and then opened the door to find it hanging upside down from the smoke detector.

I've never seen a bat try and attack before, but they have flown very close to me I think by accident.  Silent and agile they are.

Question: Late one night recently, a bat flew into my house through an open window! I was sitting at the table and it flew right at me with its huge webbed wings. I swear it looked like it was in full in attack mode.

In my younger days I did a lot of caving (spelunking). If we passed any bats, they would sometimes go zooming around for a while before settling back down.  Sometimes they would fly right past or at our faces, which was startling when they suddenly appeared in the light from our headlamps.  But they knew exactly where we and all of the walls of the cave passage were located, and we were never concerned that they might hit or attack us.

Bats in the the house give me the ebee geebies... not so much outside. We have had many bats enter our homes through doors left open and even a hole in a high ceiling gable window over the years (didn't even see the broken/missing piece of glass for probably awhile). Usually we would wake up in the middle of the night with the distinctive sound of those wing beats. Everyone always went scrambling and in retreat mode while I always ran for a long handled fish net. Hard as hell to catch and always landed in really high places in the house that I could not reach. The fish net method always worked pretty well...well all by the one time I must have nailed the the little sh*t with the net rim.... felt bad... well sort of...