Bat House Forum

[Barca]

Alright... I know this doesn't really fit into your forum all that well, but you guys are easily the most knowledgable in the bat field that I could find.

A few nights ago, a bat somehow made it into our house. I discovered it around 1-2 AM, during typical bat hours. Both my mother and myself covered ourselves in sufficient clothing, and proceeded to deal with it (Don't worry, we didn't kill it).

During the duration of "dealing with it", I did have a few close encounters with it. When I found it initially, I was coming out of the bathroom and saw it flying up the stairs. After gearing up, I started to make my way down the stairs. As I was halfway down, I saw it coming up, and dropped down to the ground as low as I could do. I felt him fly a little above me, and I'm not very worried about that.

We eventually cornered him into the entry room, one light at a time, and opened the door / window. He didn't seem to want to leave, so we went outside to watch for his exit. After a few minutes, he finally came out, but decided to make a few circles around us before taking off. During one of the circles, he came extremeley close to my face, and could have possibly grazed it. I kept an eye on it for visible scratches or marks, but nothing really came up. A few days later, we noticed a large welt on my sister's arm (She was asleep for the majority of this), and also noticed that there was a gap above her window where the bat could have come in. As a precaution, we took her to the hospitol, and she's already had her initial rabies shots and 3 day followup.

However, neither my mother or myself have been vaccinated. Initially we didn't think anything of it, but the more we look back on it, the more worried we are that maybe we should get vaccinated as well. I've been doing a bit of research, as well as call a few medical facilities, and we've gotten mixed reactions.

The biggest thing that worries us is that a lot of the sources I went to all said that a bat could bite or scratch you and leave absolutely no evidence at all. However, we were very much keeping him moving, and he never had an oppurtuunity to really bite us. But I can't say the same for a graze or potential scratch.

One center that we called said that if we thought there was any chance there was contact at all, we should be treated for rabies. Our family doctor said to only worry about it if a visible redness, soreness or swelling developed. We called our local hospitol, and they pretty much laughed at us and told us not to bother.

So, here we are on the fence and looking for insight from those more knowledgable in this specific situation.

And also, when he flew past me, I was also fairly well covered. I was wearing a hat as well as a sweatshirt tied around a lot of my face and covering my neck. I'm sure that sounds absurd to you guys, but we were a bit cautious... As well as a bit afraid

Thank you in advance for any help and/or insight that you can provide us.

-Mike

[Joe Spencer]

Barca, I believe you followed proper protocol based on your situation and current experience.  This is the time of year when young bats often lose their way or any bat may attempt to escape excessive heat from an attic environment.  Big brown bats abandon roosts when temperatures exceed 95 degrees at which time they may enter the living space.  Are you  aware of your home potentially being a roost for one or more bats?

What was the hi temperature of the day which preceded this encounter?

How old is the home?
Are you in the States or Cananda?
Full attic or just an upper crawl space such as in a ranch house.

In the vast majority of cases, bats that are encountered in a building or home are using the building as a temporary or seasonal roost.  Bats that fly in to living quarters via windows and exterior doors are in the minority.
Bite Exposures: Any penetration of the skin by teeth (i.e. the skin must be broken). All bite exposures, regardless of location, represent a potential risk of rabies transmission. A healthcare provider should be consulted anytime a bite wound breaks the skin.[indent] Bats: In recent years, most cases of human rabies in the U.S. have been due to bat bites that were not recognized or reported. Bat bites are a special problem because the tiny teeth marks are difficult to see, and the bite may not be noticed. If there is any chance that physical contact with a bat occurred, the bat should be captured and tested for rabies. These situations include not only bat bites, but also finding a bat in the room of a previously unattended child, or waking up to find a bat in the room. If the bat cannot be tested, PEP should be initiated.
[/indent] Non-Bite Exposures: Scratches or open wounds or mucous membranes contaminated with saliva, cerebrospinal fluid, or brain tissue from a rabid animal. Non-bite exposures rarely cause rabies. However, there are occasional reports of rabies virus transmission by non-bite exposure, suggesting that these exposures constitute sufficient risk to consider administration of PEP.

Rabies is also more common in "big brown bats" and is far less common in "little brown bats".  The former are more common in buildings and dwellings in urban areas.

Others here may assist further and thank you for posting....

Joe

[Barca]

Are you aware of your home potentially being a roost for one or more bats?

I thought about it, but it's EXTREMELEY unlikely. From what I understand, bats prefer cooler temps, and can't handle more extreme temps. The only place, internally, that the bats could be staying that we wouldn't notice them would be our attic. During the summer, our attic maintains a 110-120 degree F temp... Probably even worse on the hotter days.

What was the hi temperature of the day which preceded this encounter?

I don't remember exactly, but I would guess around 80-85 degrees F during the day, and around 65-70 over night.

How old is the home?

The home is a bit older. I believe built in the late 1910's to early 1920's. I'll estimate 90 years old.

Are you in the States or Cananda?

United States. Pittsburgh PA, if that helps.

Full attic or just an upper crawl space such as in a ranch house.

Full Attic. And our attic door doesn't close the whole way, and there's a 2-3 inch gap for them to get out of. If he did enter through the attic, it's easy to believe he got out that way, he came out into the house to escape the heat up there. However, in the 15 years that we've lived here, none have ever come in through our attic before.

As far as the roosting goes, is a chimney a potential? We don't have a fireplace for easy entrance, but that could be another possibility.


And one more question... Is it possible for a bat to bite a human while in midflight? I would imagine that they can, but I can't imagine it not being noticable... And if it was midflight, I would think it would atleast have enough force to leave a mark. There were no visible bite marks, red marks or scratches on anyone but my sister.

The fact that he was always in flight when around us yet didn't leave any marks leads me to believe that he never did make any contact with us.

[Barca]

Well... It's a bit irrelevant now. I started the rabies vaccinations tonight, as well as my mother. 1 in the arm and 4 in the butt with 4 follow up shots. Tons of fun!