I had known for the past several days that there was a bat in the house. I hadn’t paid much attention to it, actually. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that a bat has somehow made its way into the house. I can’t figure out how they keep getting in. None of the windows are open that I know of.
Anyway, last week I saw him flying around the living room. I knew it was hopeless to catch him so I just let it go. Last night he walked, crablike, across the floor in front of the fireplace and I saw him and marveled that he was still alive. I went away to get a box but when I came back he had vanished.
This evening I was asleep (finally!) on the couch when I woke up to the sensation of something crawling across my foot. This was not an insect — I could feel it through my socks and it was big. I instinctively shook my foot violently to get rid of whatever it was — I assumed a mouse. I got up and turned on the light and saw the bat clinging to the back of the couch.
The bat is outside now, thank goodness. I got a kitchen towel, pried him off the couch (he didn’t want to go, clung to the fabric with his little clawsies) and carried him in the towel onto the porch. I had the opportunity to get a close look at him under the porchlight. Bats are cute. They look like mice with wings. He had little tiny pinprick eyes and he made little clicking noises. I was actually tempted to pet him. I took some pictures with my cell phone camera, then went next door to fetch my neighbor the minister. But when we got back the bat had flown away.
Nice knowing you, little batty. Don’t come visit me again any time soon.
The Charley Project Blog 
“Mr. Bat, I always wanted a roommate, but I get this feeling you will not pay half the rent and utilities.”
Awwwww! I LOVE bats. Glad he had enough strength to fly away. Hope your kind deed gives you a few good spins on the Karma wheel.
You are braver than me!! I would have TOTALLY FREAKED OUT. A pigeon once flew into my bedroom and I screamed like a child! Totally bizarre when you think about it as I’m not scared of pigeons in the street!
Great photos.
Do you have an attic?
If there’s a small hole in your roof, a bat could fly into the attic and from there into the house.
Yeah, probably it got in that way. I do have an attic and the roof in my bedroom leaked a year or so ago. I thought it had been fixed, but it’s possible there’s another hole elsewhere. My house is nearly 110 years old.
Yeah, what Karen said. You probably have a hole up there that they get into. They might even have a nest up there if the hole has been for a while.
You have to be real careful about bats though because they carry rabies. People get bit all the time.
My dad says there hasn’t been a case of rabies in Ohio since like 1990.
Knock on wood and cross yoru fingers and throw some salt over your shoulder.
I’m not worried. Batty appeared healthy and in any case he didn’t bite me.
Yeah but he landed on you and wild animals aren’t suposed to ever get that close to people. Ick. Bats are fine by me but they have to stay out doors.
The could have .also come the fireplace
I meant the bat probably came thru the fireplace.
Unlikely. The fireplace is covered in front by a screen the bat could not have got through. I think the chimney is stopped up also.
Yes the Jenna Giese case is a perfect example she barely touched a bat and a young man in Texas died after barely touching a bat. I believe bats are one of the top transmitters of rabies after raccoons in the United States now. To my knowledge they have eliminated transmission of rabies by dog. The last known case of rabies in a dog was either in 2005 or 2007 I havent checked in a while. Bats can appear healthy and still transmit the virus.
Wikipedia says the bat bit Jenna. I am quite sure rabies cannot be spread unless the skin is broken. My bat didn’t bite me, and its only physical contact with me was through a pair of socks and then through a kitchen towel. I never touched it with my bare skin.
My vet says rabies is in saliva so you don’t necesarily have to be bit to pick it up. Some even say its air borne.
Last year there was a rabid stray cat in my parents’ area. An old couple saw it wandering around looking sick and got out of their car to try to help it and the cat literaly jumped on them and tore them to pieces. The lady had to have like 17 stitches in her head alone. They called out animal control and this stupid guy took one look and said he was afraid of cats so he was going to just sit in his truck and see if he could see it. It didn’t show up and he left. So over the next couple days the cat bit a little girl up bad and also some cats and some of the cats had to be put down. They finally caught the rabid cat but there was probably other animals it bit and infected that we don’t know about.
And a few years ago a rabid beaver attacked some people in a pond. It bit a hole in their inflated boat and bit them up too before they were able to kill it with the boat paddle. You just can’t be too careful.
You do not need to be bitten by the animal to get rabies. Handling the annimal without gloves or having contact with their saliva is also enough to get rabies. The man who died in Texas handled the bat and got rabies as a result and died.
Interesting, I did not know that. I think I’ll risk it, nonetheless, especially since there hasn’t been a human rabies case in Ohio in forty years.