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View Full Version : Batgirl to the Rescue!


Norton
09-22-2008, 03:54 PM
My boyfriend - well, fiance - works at a place with an office, two warehouses, and a few large trucks. On weekends, two of the workers go in to service the trucks.

Fiance got a call on Sunday. The emergency? A bat had gotten into the warehouse, and was roosting on the air compressor that the guys needed. The guys tried shooing it away with a long piece of wood, but it would squawk at them, and they couldn't get near it.

We were on our way out anyway, so we stopped by the warehouse to check it out. I've never seen a bat up close, so I went inside for a look. We go inside, and the guys are all agitated about this terrible bat. "They fly in your hair and attack you! They'll suck your blood! Arglbargl!" These are two burly truck drivers, one in his late 40's-early 50's, and the other a big guy in his mid-to-late 20's. They had been trying to shoo it away with a 2x4, and with a 16' piece of pipe. Yes, 16 feet.

Fiance goes to the compressor (the only dark corner of the warehouse), and I follow. We take a look. The bat is huddled against the valve. This bat was so small, it could easily fit in a child's palm with it's wings folded. I asked my fiance for a rag. He gets one for me, and I just covered the bat gently, and scooped it into my hand. It didn't even move.

As I went for it, I could hear the drivers yelling "You're gonna let your girl touch that thing!? You oughta kill it!" As I walked for the door, the drivers skittered away from me. "Don't bring that thing near us!"

I set it ouside on a pallet of wood. The poor little guy seemed to be in shock, but had no visible injuries. I petted his back a bit, and he spread his wings, lifted himself up, and hopped around with his mouth open. By the way, the "squawking" that had terrified the men? More like "squeaking". It sounded like a baby bird. The bat's mouth was so small, and it's teeth so tiny, I could have put my earlobe in his mouth and worn him like an earring (used to do it with lizards). After watching it for a few minutes, we put him behind the pallet so he could recover in darkness.

We told the story to a few people, which earned me the nickname batgirl. I haven't heard anything on the status of the bat itself, but I know the story has made it around my fiance's job, and the drivers have gotten a lot of razzing for it.

Next thing we know, they'll be calling my fiance to come kill spiders. :p

Becks
09-22-2008, 04:15 PM
It sounds like it's such a cute little bat.

No pictures, huh? :(

Norton
09-22-2008, 04:18 PM
I did get a couple of blurry pics with my cell phone, but I have no way of getting them from the phone to the comp. :(

Aethian
09-22-2008, 04:34 PM
Only Vampire bats will drink blood and at the most it's an ounce or two, not something a full grown guy would miss. That and their saliva makes it so that we wouldn't even feel the bite.

As for getting in ones hair, yea I heard that was a myth from the days of big hair dos.


But good job on freeing the little guy from those two bozos.

RayvenQ
09-22-2008, 05:49 PM
I love bats,I even find Vampire bats to be extraordinarily cute :lol: With their big ears and their little snout noses.

Aethian
09-22-2008, 05:57 PM
I think fruit bats are the cutest but yes vampire bats have a certian cuddly charm.

AdminAssistant
09-22-2008, 06:19 PM
Oooh, flying foxes - because they really do look like foxes with wings. I'd probably be freaked out if I saw one up close, though.

AnaKhouri
09-22-2008, 06:54 PM
Only Vampire bats will drink blood and at the most it's an ounce or two, not something a full grown guy would miss

And they mostly attack livestock; they never attack humans unless they are rabid. They simply don't like the taste of our blood.

(a bat lady came to work and did a presentation in the kids' section the other day :D)

wagegoth
09-22-2008, 07:16 PM
Thank you for saving it. Bats are an extremely important part of the ecosystem.

Last Halloween, our local observatory had a guest speaker who brought in bats. It was fascinating and scary to learn how important bats actually are to farming (California's Central Valley is major farm country) and to the reduction of pests that can cause disease. My kids are no longer freaked out at the thought of bats flying around them, and I'm much more comfortable with it myself.