# Help! Issue with bat in house.



## TJV (Jun 29, 2021)

So last night my wife inadvertently kind of stepped on what she thought was a insect. She couldn't see as she didn't have her glasses on and I could barely see it as I was at a distance. To my horror it stood on what looked to be two legs and walked behind our bedroom door. There was but two chairs, a box, and a old vent it could have hid behind. But I pulled the chairs and being freaked out just tossed them out as a sacrifice and saw nothing. I was extra freaked out because I didn't know what I saw. I was leaning towards a sort of frog/toad.

Whatever it was we didn't see it so my wife just hoped that it had left with the chairs and there wasn't much left we could do so we dropped the issue. Enter last night/this morning.

My wife summons me to the living room front door where the creature is crawling. I was scared to approach it but I had goose chills of the lack of sleep I already had thanks to not knowing what I was dealing with before so I got closer. I was opening the door to let it out, not getting a good glimpse of what I saw. However it was not moving towards the exit with the gusto that I hoped so I got a broom, made some distance, casually pushed it out and HOLY (expletive) it just opened it's wings and screeched, it's a bat!!! (Slams door) My dear wonderful wife, who somehow manages to not believe my word while claiming she does has to look for herself and OH(expletive) I think that was a bat. 

So it wasn't flying at all through this whole ordeal which makes me think it's hurt/injured. I'm honestly not even sure how far it got from my door step. Problem is it was 1 am(now 4 am) and I'm not sure what happens from then. I want to say Animal Control if the bat is still there in the morning but I'm not sure if we even have a actual Animal Control that will handle a potentially wounded bat. And I'm just assuming it's wounded because it didn't fly at all during the two times I saw it. Also concerning is while neither of us feel like we've been bitten or scratched by anything it has been in our apartment for at least a day without our knowledge.


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## John Smith_inFL (Jun 15, 2018)

welcome to the forum, TJ. - - - - what is your exact question here ?
(and, what part of the world do you live in)


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## quatsch (Feb 4, 2021)

The neighbor had a bat in the bathroom. 
Each person entered, screamed, and then sat down in the living room and waited for the next person to enter and scream.

I used a shower cap to catch him, threw him out the window, and he flew to the nearest tree branch and hung upside down. The bat, not the person.

It was an adventure at the time but I might have taken a risk.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

I would wear gloves and a mask and clean up any bat excreta with bleach. Walmart or a hardware store have cheap plastic ponchos, but it sounds like Histoplasmosis prefers an accumulation of hot guano. Wear your glasses this time. This is more than you want to know, but a good reference.



Are there any potential health risks associated with allowing bats to permanently stay in my building? – Wildlife Damage Management



Animal Control should be able to tell you if there is a Wildlife Rescue nearby, but, chances are, the bat would be put down. It may have been sick when she stepped on it. Make sure she wasn't bitten.


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## quatsch (Feb 4, 2021)

I didn't look for bat droppings.

My ex-wife had the histo thing because birds roosted in the dormitory attic at her college. 
And she deserves a lot worse (not that I'm bitter! ).

Her roommate did have lung problems.


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## Glassit (Jan 30, 2016)

I caught one on a flypaper strip once, by accident. Right above my bed. But that wouldn't help for a crawling one. Or would it...

We used to go crawling through bat caves all the time when I was younger and no one ever caught COVID or rabies so I personally wouldn't sweat it too much, but couldn't hurt to clean up after a sickly one.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Bats are the subject of superstitious dread. People freak when they see them.

But they also carry rabies, and one that appeared to be out of sorts for any reason should not be touched. If one bites you get it tested for rabies or, be prepared for the preventative regimen, which, while not fun, could save your life if the bat is rabid. 


TJV said:


> So last night my wife inadvertently kind of stepped on what she thought was a insect. She couldn't see as she didn't have her glasses on and I could barely see it as I was at a distance. To my horror it stood on what looked to be two legs and walked behind our bedroom door. There was but two chairs, a box, and a old vent it could have hid behind. But I pulled the chairs and being freaked out just tossed them out as a sacrifice and saw nothing. I was extra freaked out because I didn't know what I saw. I was leaning towards a sort of frog/toad.
> 
> Whatever it was we didn't see it so my wife just hoped that it had left with the chairs and there wasn't much left we could do so we dropped the issue. Enter last night/this morning.
> 
> ...


Can you give us an update?

Hope no one touched or handled the bat. If it went away, that's good.


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## quatsch (Feb 4, 2021)

I hit one with a slingshot once while he was circling, at dusk. 
The scab healed in a day or so, so I turned him loose.

Face like a wolf, fangs, leathery wings.


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## jim_bee (Feb 23, 2021)

I'm a little late to the discussion, but DoomsDave is correct about rabies. Not all bats are rabid, of course, but the problem with bats is that the bites can be impossible to see. I've been bitten and while I most definitely saw and felt the bite (through leather gloves) I couldn't find any wound. The general advice about bats is that if a bat is in a room with a person or pet and you can't rule out contact, the bat should be tested for rabies. CDC: Bats in House

Here, ACOs will catch and transport bats for testing by the health department.


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