Bat House Forum

[Sharon G]

I was on vacation at Lake Vermillion in Minnesota last week. At dusk I was thrilled at the amount of bats circling the cabins and keeping down the insects. Then in the cabin next to ours, which housed some of our family, a bat showed up inside. The family was freaked out and I tried to calm them and figure out how to move the bat out without injury. It kept going toward the bathroom which may be where it entered somehow. In the bathroom, alone with the bat I racked my brain as to how to catch it. Finally it became tired, landed on the floor and I scooped it up gently in a large towel and carried it to the door and released it. It flew of OK, but I was concerned if it may have become too tired. I'm sure it was more freightened then the cabin members! Subsequent nights they said they heard them at the screen at the window. All that behavior seemed odd to me. It was a full moon. Any comments. For future reference is there a better way to handle the bat inside? The cabin owners had never heard of bats in the cabins, but the same night another cabin had one inside, and they were able to shoo it out the door. I'm going to refer the cabin owners to this site in case of further entries.
Thanks, Sharon G

[Kent]

Sharon,

There is an excellent video titled "Bats in Belfry" .

Emily Davis at Speleobooks used to stock it . The web site is www.speleobooks.com .

ph.-518-295-7981

Speleobooks is an excellent source for bat material and service is the best.

Cost is approx. $35 and includes book about bat excusion and bat proofing buildings.

I beleive the video was funded by Pennsylvania Dept. of Natural Resources.

I have 2 copies but both are loaned out now or I would give you the Pennsylvania ordering address. I think it is best info available for bat proofing and bat exclusion.

If the managers or employees have a bat phobia the BCI video " Kids Discover Bats" is a good video to watch to help overcome fear of bats.

I loan the " KIds Discover Bats" video to a number of teachers ,over 90% of the techers say they enjoyed the video some much they take it home for their families to watch.

Kent Borcherding

The video was produced by Pennsylvania

[rontorrella]

Sounds like the towel method worked fine. I get several calls a year about bats  coming into the building where I work and, before I started getting rabies pre-exposure inoculation, I'd do a no-contact capture using a small trash can: let the bat settle in a flat area (typically on the wall), set the trash can over top of the bat, then gently, slowly, slide a thin piece of cardboard under the trash can. The bat will, typically, let go and settle in the trash can. I would then take the trash can outdoors, set it on its side, remove the cardboard, and step back to allow the bat to exit the can. They always flew away. (It was interesting to see how they sort of jump up off of the ground and take off. Strong jumpers!)Nowadays, since I keep my inoculation current, I use a fishing net to trap them on the wall, then just scoot them into the net. They seem to feel secure, there, and I can take them outdoors for release with a little encouragement. This way, they're at least up the air already so they just flap away.Even though I have been inoculated against exposure to rabies, I try to minimize my contact with bats because I don't care to find out how effective the inoculations are. If I find a "downed" bat (it's on the ground, not trying to retreat or hide), I assume that it's injured or ill and prefer a no-contact removal to an out-of-sight location.BCI (and every other bat expert I've consulted) recommends that providing a direct escape route--opening doors and windows (unscreened)--should be the first effort. Handling bats should be the last resort.Ron

[Joe Spencer]

Good points Ron! Have enjoyed the insight at your forum and group!  Welcome....