Tag Archives: get rid of bats

Big Black Bird

I need some serious help with a bat problem, and I need it fast.  Early this morning my son woke up screaming bloody murder.  I ran into his room terrified that something was happening to him, when I got into his bedroom I found him sobbing under his covers, cowering away from his closet.  I wasn’t sure what was happening so I asked him what was wrong and he told me a big black bird was flying through his room trying to hurt him.  I honestly had no idea how to react to that, there was no bird in sight and absolutely no sign that there had ever been a bird.  I told him it was just a bad dream but I turned off the lights scooted into bed next to him to help him fall back asleep.

We laid there together for maybe an hour in the dark, the only light came from his small night light next to his bed, when all of a sudden I heard something banging into his window and my son started screaming again.  I opened my eyes and saw what did look like a big, black bird flying wildly around the room. Only it wasn’t a bird, it was definitely a bat.  I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t scream before I scooped my little boy into my arms and ran him out of the room, shutting the bat inside.  I really couldn’t believe it, we have never had a bat problem in this house before, and now I’m asking myself ‘what if there are more?’  I’m even more concerned about the fact that when I sent my husband into the room to get the bat out later in the morning, he couldn’t find it.

I won’t lie, I’m panicking a little bit about this.  There’s a vent in my sons closet that it could have gone up, I’m not sure if it leads to the attic but it’s definitely a possibility.  And what if this isn’t just one bat? What if it just got separated from a whole bunch of other bats that are living somewhere else in my house!! I know that realistically, it’s probably just one, but it’s one that is missing INSIDE MY HOUSE! I just need help with this as soon as possible, I don’t need a bat problem on my plate right now.

Going Batty

I have been living with bats in my house for 5 years now, and I am DONE! I guess technically I live in an apartment, or a studio? Whatever you want to call it, it’s part of a beautiful old Victorian home and the landlord rents 6 rooms out; all of us have experienced wild bat problems at least once since we’ve all been here, and one of the renters just moved in two months ago.  We have all approached the landlord about it since he is an exterminator, but he says that it’s illegal to kill bats and basically told us to deal with it – and I have, for a very long time.

I have no problem with bats at all, I understand their importance in the food chain and I appreciate them for eating mosquitos.  Actually now that I think about it, I haven’t had a mosquito bite since I’ve been living here, I only get them on vacations. BUT, ignoring that, I am at my wits end with these things sharing my apartment.  The only time there should be bats in a house is if it’s abandoned or belongs to Van Helsing; bats belong outside, period.  You might be wondering why, after 5 years of this, I am just now getting truly angry about the bat problem; well, I’ll tell you.

Early this morning, in the wee hours of dawn, I was sleeping peacefully dreaming about gumdrops and candy canes when all of a sudden, I’m awoken from my slumber by a BAT LANDING ON MY FACE!! I am not kidding! I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but I do know that I am beyond my limits of what I can take – and I also know that my landlord got an earful at 4 am this morning because of it!  I have done all that I can, but I can’t live with bats in the house any longer.  Either they go, or I do.

A Blast from the Past

When you buy an older house you expect it to come with quirks like maybe it’s haunted or the doors are on backwards; we expected these kinds of quirks, but we were not expecting bats in the attic.  This house was built in the 1800’s and the attic is actually HUGE, so in reality we were prepared for the possibility of there being bats in the attic so we had an inspection done to check the house for any kinds of wildlife problems.  The inspector came out an hour later and gave us the all clear. No bat problems anywhere.

Two weeks later and here we are.  Six days ago I went to the basement to put some boxes away and I found a dead bat on top of the shelves; three days I had to pull a dead bat out from behind the stove when I started to smell something heating up as I cooked dinner.  From six days ago until now, I have found 8 bats dead in my house.  I thought to myself, ‘this has to be a coincidence, the house doesn’t have a bat problem!’ I started to dig around to find out if these dead bats were just old or if we were dealing with something larger altogether.  I didn’t have any luck finding any live bats and I was starting to become more hopeful that there wasn’t a bat problem at all, until I got to the attic.  I cracked open the door and shone my flashlight around the large space; I could see that there was definitely guano covering the floor so I moved my light up towards the ceiling and I almost screamed.  What had to be more than 100 bats were hanging peacefully from the rafters.

I am so unbelievably upset!  Not only are there bats in the attic of my house, but the inspector that was supposed to look for the bats was either incompetent or he lied straight to my face!  There is no way that a problem this extreme just happened in the last two weeks, especially since we actually moved in a week ago and we started finding bats immediately!  Okay, what I need is to first take a deep breath, and second is some serious help.  I need someone to get these bats out of the attic before I lose my mind and burn this house down.  I have been patiently dealing with the quirks of my (new) old house, but I cannot handle this without some professional help; be it a therapist or bat control. I need SOMEONE.

Bat in the House

I recently dealt with a bat in the house, and had a whole adventure with it before finally calling Allstate Animal Control to get rid of the bat and make sure I didn’t have any more living in the attic or chimney or anywhere else.  Before this all happened, I had no fear of bats.  I saw them in the zoo.  I caught glimpses of them flying around the nearby park when I was running at twilight.  I know they keep insect populations down, especially mosquitoes, which are a real problem around here.  I know they are pretty amazing animals.  So, I never had a fear of them.

Until I stepped on one in my bare feet.

Yep, that was pretty awful.

It was mid afternoon.  I’d just come home from class and I was getting ready for work.  I’m trying to get my bachelors degree, and then I want a masters in business administration.  Between work, school and my social life, I keep myself pretty busy, and I don’t spend a lot of time at home.  So, I didn’t know I had a bat problem.  I had grabbed a bowl of cereal for lunch (don’t judge me), and was taking it back to my room so I could eat while looking for my shoes, since I didn’t have a lot of time before work.  I turned the corner into my room quickly and as soon as I stepped down, I knew something was terribly wrong.  Something hairy, squirmy and very angry was wriggling beneath my foot.  I pulled my foot up, and this black shadow flew straight up to the ceiling, bumped around up there, and then settled out of sight on the top of my book shelf.  I didn’t even have breath left to scream, and I desperately needed to disinfect my foot, make sure I didn’t have a bat bite, and probably hire a hypnotherapist to make me permanently forget the memory of stepping on a bat.

I certainly didn’t want to investigate to see whether the bat was still alive.  I pulled the bedroom door shut, washed my feet about twenty times, cleaned up the spilled cereal, pulled on a different pair of shoes from the downstairs closet, and headed out to work.  During my break, I called United Wildlife Control so they could send a professional out to get rid of the bat in my house, and check to make sure I didn’t have a bat colony lurking around anywhere else.

Now, of course, I’m terrified of bats.  I’ve gone running in the park a few times since then, and every time I see one out of the corner of my eye, innocently swooping around in the air to catch itself some dinner, I stifle a shriek, start to shake, and my foot involuntarily curls up.  I’m sure my reaction will lessen as time goes by, but in the meantime, I think I’ll join a gym and run on a treadmill.

Get Rid of Bats

bat removal

I have to wonder what bats must think, when we try to get rid of bats with tools that were meant for playing sports or cleaning the house.

Look, I know that sometimes entire bat colonies get in an attic, or bats roost in a chimney or people have bat colonies around their house.  But, a lot of times, it’s just one single bat that got curious or accidentally flew in a house.  Once inside, it finds a nice place to hang out, like high up on a wall, or in a fireplace, behind a curtain or on the back of a chair.  It might be a little bit worried about finding its way back outside again, but it’s pretty confident that it’ll be able to find its way back out, once it’s had a nap or pulled its wits together.

And, then, some human innocently walks into the darkened room and flips on a light switch.  Still, the bat might not move from its spot.  It’s comfortable, it’s safe, and it sees no reason why it should have to move.  So, it hangs out there for a while.  The person wanders around, doing whatever people do in that particular room.  But, suddenly, the person glances at a random spot on the wall, and sees a dark smudge just hanging there.  Somewhere, deep in that person’s brain, a fearful voice whispers, “It’s a bat,” and then there’s screaming, and running, and door slamming, and all of a sudden there’s several people all trying to get rid of the bat.

The things people use to get rid of bats, though!  It’s like, they grab whatever is at hand, whether it’s an empty box, a blanket, a tennis racket or the long, dusty, fluffy thing at the end of a pole that they use to clean off ceiling fans.

A whole chase ensues.  The bat flies frantically around the room, barely avoiding faces, heads and windows as it desperately looks for an escape route.  Objects are smashed or simply knocked over as the people alternate between trying to get rid of the bat to running away screaming to ducking and cursing.

And, what must the bat think?  It was happily minding its own business when it’s awoken and chased.  It is not a greased pig at a fair, it is not an escaped bull in a china shop.  It is simply a small bat taking a rest from looking for dinner.  Now, it’s trying to avoid getting its wings smashed in a butterfly net or by a cardboard box while flying around looking for a way out of this mess.

Let cooler heads prevail.  Call a professional to get rid of bats for you.  Tennis rackets are for playing tennis, blankets are to keep you warm, and ceiling fan dusters are for . . . well, you know.

Get Rid of Bats

get rid of bats 
            Mission: get rid of bats from the attic.  10-4, I’m on it.  Trust me to get the job done right.  I’m no professional, but I’m a teenaged gamer with hours and hours of experience at getting rid of all kinds of online monsters and enemies.  This will be a piece of cake.

            First objective: arm myself with the correct equipment.  Possible weapons: baseball bat, tennis racket, long straight stick.  I select the stick for its flexibility, length, tensile strength and the way it sits in my hand.

            Second: armor.  I need something that will protect me from bites but that will not inhibit movement.  A motorcycle helmet is selected, allowing me maximum protection vs. maximum visibility. 

            Third: select my tactical approach.  Move up the crawl space into the attic itself?  Negative.  Not enough room to retreat if needed.  Ah ha!  I shall sneak up on the enemy from below and from the outside.  It will give me the element of surprise necessary to strike fear into the heart of the bats, and they shall flee their den of evil on their own, believing there is an entire army outside.  It is a perfect plan.

            Carefully, I drag the A-frame ladder up to the house and prop it against the wall.  I don my armor, and with perfect stealth I creep up the ladder holding my weapon of choice before me.  I can’t help but smile with anticipation.  I shall arise victorious from this battle.  I imagine my experience points will increase exponentially as I successfully get rid of bats.

            Finally, I am in place and ready for battle.  I close my eyes briefly and control my breathing, calming my beating heart.  Raising my hand, I begin the attack!  Slam, whack, bang!  The stick falls relentlessly on the attic vent, creating a horrible racket intended to frighten the evil beasts from our castle.

            Nothing happens.  Cautiously, I make a second attempt to get rid of bats.  Whack, whack, bang! 

            I wait.  Nothing.  I listen, and hear them moving around, but they refuse to leave by the vent I have been banging.  How could they not know they are being attacked by a superior force?  How could they not flee in terror?  It is incomprehensible. 

            I descend from my position of attack, obtain a flashlight, and cautiously climb back up to my perch.  Peering in, I can see the vile creatures, rustling, leering.  They are restless, but well-ensconced.   One of them (their leader?) crawls across the wall and turns its head to look directly into my eyes.  We stare at each other across the battlefield, and I realize I am up against a formidable foe.  It is perhaps it is time to consider an alternate plan of attack?