A bat in the swamp

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Thanks to Lady J'Ssem for obvious inspiration.

So this morning, one of the optical ladies came in to work, went to pick up her smock off the coatroom rack--and found a bat chillaxin' on it.



She whipped the smock to the floor, along with the bat, and went running away screaming. This lead to a bunch of people huddling nervously in the breakroom and along the stairs, wanting me to go poke the bat with a broom to make sure it was dead.

Oh no. No no no no no no no no no no no no no no. Bats are creatures with which I do not fuck. Bats carry rabies. Rabies to me is about the worst way a person can die.

So somebody else got a repack tote, slid it over the smock and the stilled, probably deceased bat, closed it up, and threw the smock and the bat away. I don't know who.

[MoonCat]

Oh. Yow. Shoulda called Animal Control. Somebody should test it for rabies.

I walked into an indoor ATM once and there was a bat flying around in there. It was on a Saturday over Labor Day weekend a couple years ago. None of the usual animal control offices were open. Didn't know what to do.

I still refer to that bank as the Bat Cave.

[Catwoman2965]

I almost touched one! Went to the laundromat to do my laundry, and my preference is to start the washer (top-loader), put my soap in, let it swoosh around, THEN put my clothes in.

So i see something in the bottom, and it looks like a leaf. I start to reach in and pull it out, and it MOVES - it was a BAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed bloody murder and jumped 3 feet in the air! The attendent, this tiny, elderly woman, then managed to scoop it up in a magazine, and bring it outside. While I waited at the FAR end of the laundromat....ick.

[Mikkel]

It's not that bad, according to this site under 5% of the bats in North America has rabies.
I have had bats in the house and I usually just put a bucket over it, slide a bit of cardboard under and release the bat outside. They are really very timid creatures, at least the European kind. Not much different than catching a sparrow and putting it outside.

[Crossbow]

It's not that bad, according to this site under 5% of the bats in North America has rabies.
I have had bats in the house and I usually just put a bucket over it, slide a bit of cardboard under and release the bat outside. They are really very timid creatures, at least the European kind. Not much different than catching a sparrow and putting it outside.

Agreed. You're far more likely to catch rabies from a raccoon or possum than from a bat. Considering I live near open water and have a SERIOUS insect problem in my yard every spring and summer, I'll keep my bat house.

[zombiequeen]

Growing up, I had a bat in my room at least once a year. My dad made a game using a rubbermaid tote lid, see if he could smack the bat so hard it's neck broke.
Or he'd drown them in a coffee can.
My husband is a very strong catch-and-release the little thing before it bites me person, which is nice.
I like bats, they're cute. Also, fuzzy.

[MaggieTheCat]

My parents have a large 2 story house, with the second floor only covering about half of the first floor. Thus, the living room had a very very high cathedral ceiling; I think it's maybe 25 or 30 feet high? Since the second floor doesn't extend over the living room, the ceiling is very high and very hard to get to. Inevitably, at least once a year when I was growing up, we'd get a bat in the house, and it would usually find a corner of a beam in the big cathedral ceiling over the living room to hide out in. Made it a pain in the ASS trying to find and catch it. Sometimes we'd spend hours looking with flashlights in every corner of the ceiling to no avail. Sometimes we'd go to sleep knowing one was still up there but not being able to find it. I don't really mind bats all that much...my mother, on the other hand, would pitch an unholy fit whenever she saw one.

[Midorikawa]

Bats are relatively non aggressive. You mess with it's home and it may not be too pleased, but they won't mess with you otherwise.

As a long time caver, I've come face to face with millions of bats, and never had a single problem. :-)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Mind you, the reason why I'm so scared of bats is we had a high-profile case around here some years back where a girl got bitten by a bat and symptoms of rabies started showing up some time later.

So they did this revolutionary new treatment where they put her in a coma and pumped her full of drugs for over a month until they figured the virus was dead, then they brought her out of the coma. She's evidently alive and leading a normal life.

Still, that isn't something I ever want to go through.

ETA: This be her

[Cat]

I adore bats....mind you, I do dislike when they swoop low and you aren't expecting them.

In high school, we had a PA announcement: "If you see a bat in your bedroom....assume you have been bitten. Go to the hospital for rabies shots."

I love Connecticut

[zombiequeen]

Apparently, bat's teeth are so small and thin you don't even notice when they bite you. You could die from rabies never knowing you were bitten.

It's not like I'm playing with them, but I do respect bats.

[chainedbarista]

i do like bats, but i like to err on the side of caution when dealing with them.

mabye the rabies incidence is low, but why take chances?

i've seen a film featuring a child infected with rabies; it's not a pretty sight. i was unable to find the film, but found this one instead (please exuse the 'what might be' pr0n ads...).

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f14_1248142064

it might take a few seconds to load...

[Micer]

Actually fun fact, we have a long on-going battle against bedbugs in our apartment complex, their cause? The bat colony living in the attic/wall of the complex building. Aside from the bug issue, they're not too bad, most of the time they're swooping about in the common area come evening time, and I have come across one or two just huddled up, getting their bearings back on the stairs.

The rabies thing is a big concern that most folks have, but honestly... they're cute little things. Granted, wouldn't pick one up or poke one by hand, but have used my dustpan to scoot them if they're at risk of being stepped on.

[Shalom]

We had bats in camp when I was a kid; they'd be showing movies in the rec hall at night (real honest to $DEITY 16mm prints) and we'd see shadows swooping past the screen every so often. We just shrugged it off; hey, we were in the country, what do you expect?

So one day I happened to be under the rec hall, which had one end up on stilts because the ground under it sloped away, and found a bat curled up and asleep on a pillar. I petted it with a finger tip, because I wanted to see if it was furry, and it opened its eyes and said " ǁ ". First time I'd ever heard that sound from an animal. I didn't realise until much later what a chance I was taking with rabies.

[Magpie]

See, around here it's easy: the bats aren't really able to break the skin unless they catch you somewhere that the skin is thin. I believe you're still supposed to get a rabies shot though. (There are larger bats, they're just not as common).