No, really…a BAT! I was tuning into the local BE Interactive Radio Show (it’s live on Saturday nights and we have a PARTY with cams. on) and we were having a very fun chat. Requesting songs, enjoying friends…
My son comes downstairs and announces, “Mom, Dad, I have a bat in my room.”
Now, let me give you a little background on this. I HATE BATS! I can hold a snake in my hands…I can bravely take photos of bears and mountain lions (maybe a wordless wednesday soon?), I can handle a bee in my car…but a BAT in my house was not something I was happy about. You see, I used to watch those lovely horror films where the girl with long hair would walk into a room and the bat, of course, would attack. THEN, it ALWAYS got stuck in her long flowing hair.
Now, I’ve had very long hair for most of my life so this has always been a fear of mine. This vision came to my mind when my son walked into the room and announced this.
I calmly (right) typed that I would be back soon and asked a few of my fellow BE bloggers what they might do if there were a bat in their home. I got the “use a sheet and trap it” and “make noise like cheese, they like cheese” type of answers. Knowing this probably wouldn’t help me I solicited advice from my husband.
We walked upstairs (after I yelled for my son to shut his door b’c we have 14′ ceilings in our upstairs rooms due to the huge vault design) and armed with a camera, a broom and the phone (I called my MOMMY!) we ventured to rid one of our bedrooms of the intruding bat.
I opened the door a crack and of course, at that very moment, the bat flew across the room. The wingspan on these small critters is amazing! The door shut really fast once I saw that. I handed the broom to my husband and watched as my daughter, all of 8 years old, volunteered to go in with him to capture the creature. My son, who is 14, is much like his mother. He went in but said he was in a tucked position most of the time.
My husband and daughter were screaming with glee (ok, so it was just my daughter but my husband was laughing) as the bat flew from one side to another. They said it was quite graceful (not the word I’d choose) and you had time to duck right before it flew toward you.
I was in the hallway crying. You might find that silly but this is a creature that has eluded my happy thoughts for, oh, my 
whole life. It has never once been put into a happy story. It has never once been seen as a happy thing to find…especially in your house. Most especially in mine. Call me a sissy but this just had me over the edge and the tears flowed right from my eyes to my cheeks. I laughed at the same time (because I’m crazy like that) and thought, “why can’t I have FUN with this?” but realized it was just the level of my fear that kept me from it.
Once the broom caught the bat and they were able to wrestle it’s squeaking-squawking body into a cloth (my son’s handy underwear, we’ll call it a cloth, okay?) my husband brought it to the door and I waited with my camera, after several words spoken through the door to ensure the bat was safely held, to take photos.
I’m sharing them here because, well, how often do you get to see a bat up close? And did you see those TEETH? We let the bat go after the photo shoot and I’m keeping any of our windows that don’t happen to have screens yet, closed. I might even look for some way to permanently close them.
Tell me, are you afraid of bats? Does something else make you freak out?
hi Cat,
i just wanted to say “hey” i’m from simply sassy’s blog site. i fully agree with you about bats! wow those teeth scare me enough to duck and hide! i wonder if we get them here in wisconsin. i sure hope i never find one in my house!
years ago i drove to Leadville,Co. and loved it there. had friends move there for a few years, a very pretty place indeed.
i’ll be back for a few visit’s now and then, i enjoyed your blog.
take care…Beth
There was a bat in our cottage when I was very young. I wasn’t afraid, I thought it was cool. But I remember my Mom shreiking and hiding under a pillow.
I’m terrified of heights though. I get the shakes near cliffs, and on Ferris Wheels.
We have had a number of bats in the house over the years. I have never seen those TEETH though!! Good photo shoot! They eat tons of mosquitoes so it is a good thing to let it go.
hehehehe
i ADORE bats … maybe it’s the obsession with Robin (from Batman &) that’s given me an affinity for them, or maybe i’m just cracked that way. but when we went to the brookfield zoo in chicagoland, i was just ecstatic at the bat enclosure — they fly pretty much free in there, but there’s nets over the walkway areas so the bats can’t get to you.
that was almost as awesome as the mama gorilla posing for me with her baby. (seriously, she would shift the baby so i could get a better shot … too bad i didn’t have a better camera!)
My husband walked into teh room while i was reading this, my darling husband who has volentarily been used a gator bait, who kills bugs for a living, who is afraid of nothing (or so i thought) shuddered and said “bats creep me out” then i showed him teh pictures and he recoiled yelling look at those damn teeth! … this from a man who has wrestled an alligator BWHAHAHAHA you get nothing but sympathy from us
It looks like a vampire with those teeth. But kind of cute! It is fluffy. But I hate rats! If I saw a rat in my house I would freak out! The thought of one of those things slinking accroos my bed while I was sleeping! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH.. I would just die!
A young boy died here in Houston a month ago from rabies by bat bite. It’s sad that a creature so good for us environmentally has been given this stigma of being evil. They’re really great creatures, but there is always the threat of rabies. Glad everything worked out on your end.
Pretty awesome pic of the little guy’s teeth! WOW!
Hey Cat,
Would you do me the honor of writing a post and be my guest blogger tomorrow? If you agree, write anything you want, email it to me, and I’ll post it early on Monday. Thanks!
Oh my GOD! Those teeth!!! I would have ran out of the house and slept in the car. LOL
OMG THOSE TEETH ARE HUGE!!!!
I don’t like bats either. When I lived in Africa for a couple of years they were EVERYWHERE at night and BIG F__KERS. And they would dive bomb you to eat the bugs that would swarm around your head. It was aweful.
I don’t like mice or rats either.
That’s a pretty toothy critter, all right. Must have been something having it fly all over the place
Well, everyone got out of there without getting bit, so all’s good. (you weren’t planning on biting the bat, were you? remember what happened to Ozzy 
Oh yeah and I’m very grossed out by cockroaches and had one crawl into my bed (again when living in Africa).
YUCK!!
I hate bats, I hate bats, I hate bats!!!!! I had one fly in my house last year. I hid in my bedroom until the damn thing flew back out. I didnt come out of my bedroom until morning. Left the front door hanging open all night. Those teeth!!!!! OMG I hate bats!!!
I’m not sure what is more frightening. The teeth on that thing, or, the size of the freaking mosquitos it could be eating? Holy crap! I’ve had one bat in this house and it was just a baby-and it certainly didn’t have teeth that big! They creep me out too.
That is a horrible looking little thing! Could you imagine going through life looking like that! OMG!
Peace…………..
okay, I wasn’t afraid of bats – but that was before I saw all those damn huge teeth – WTF?? Those are insane! Don’t they just eat bugs? What do they need teeth that big for!?
However, those are the teeth that I generally picture on moths. Yes, my sad, sad little phobia is moths. I have a sense, at least, that bats know where they’re going. Moths, on the other hand, just flap aimlessly and could take you out at any second. (shudder)
I gotta say, those are some freaky looking teeth
Hey there, just stopped by via BlogMad.
My husband wants to build a bat box for our backyard, to attract bats to eat the mosquitos. I’m Ok with that, but I’d rather not have them in the house!
I’m glad you caught the little fella! Bats don’t really bother me much, then again I’ve never had one in my house.
I’ve only ever had a bat in my house twice. The first time I was 21 and living with my first husband. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of the cat dragging something heavy across the floor. Just as I realized what the cat had – the bat flew across the room. It was 4:30 am but I called my father to come over anyway. I waited, armed with a baseball bat, for my father to arrive. I watched it to make sure it didn’t go far. When my father arrived I told him it was now behind the portable dishwasher – well it must have been under it, because when I went to move the dishwasher I ran it over… Ewww….
The next time, I was 26. My husband was more freaked out by the bat than I was. He was screaming like a girl and swinging a shovel around like a madman. He took several chunks out of the ceiling but he never did hit that bat. In fact, we never did find out what happened to it. Suddenly it was just gone. We searched the entire house and never did find it.
I hate bats. There is something about a rodent with wings that is just wrong in every aspect…
I am a photojournalist and few years ago our editors sent a reporter and me out to the mouth of a local batcave to do a story.
After sundown thousands of these critters swarmed out of the cave and around us. It was an amazing experience.
OMFG, I would have to move. No way could I live with critters in my house. MEEEP!
I’d love to comment on this but I’m too busy SCREAMING!!!! I hate bats too.
I knew you had Bat’s in the Belfry, but in your home too? ;~D
At least you let the little critter live! PETA would be proud! ;~D
Aww he’s so cute! Reminds of my little brown doggy, even with all the teeth. But damn those are big teeth for his size!
Awww, shucks… I love bats!
Awesome, Those critters are worth their weight in bugs.
wow, scary Im not so afraid of bats , right now we are trying to get a few to live in our backyard to keep down the mosquito population ( two of my kids are really allergic to mosquitos)
but so far they dont liek the bat houses we shelled big buxs for! rude little brats! BUT as much as id liek 4 or 5 in my backyard i DONT want them in my house!
As for the photos, they are awesome, you snapped such a clear photo of their teeth! i m so amazed!
LOL at your sons underwear as the cloth!
thats what I would have done too!
My what big teeth you have little wandering bat.
Thanks for posting the pics! After being in the SB when this was happening to you I really wanted to see these pictures.
Bats SUCK! But I know an easy way to get them out of a house, courtesy of my local fire department.
1. Shut off all the lights in the house. This includes TVs and monitors and all that good crap.
2. Turn ON your PORCH or OUTSIDE lights, back and front.
3. Leave the doors near the lights open.
4. Watch the creepy little bugger leave.
Takes about 15 minutes max.
Holy crap! Look at the teeth on that thing.
Never seen a bat’s teeth before.
Rae
I don’t like bats…but he’s so cute! Look at the little fella! I’m going to call him Stan….
We had bats in the house last fall. I now sleep with a tennis racket next to my bed!!
Thanks for posting a link to this story. I normally like bats. So long as they are far far away and are OUTSIDE (because, like you said, they eat mosquitoes!). As for my hubs killing it, they overrun this area, and they have rabies, so it scares me to have the things in my house–especially when I saw the thing biting the crap outta the Swiffer. Plus, I think by this point Hubs was over tired and frustrated. So, sorry, didn’t mean to offend, and any other time we probably would have just let the thing go too.
There was a bat in my house, i screamed when i saw it, i am 16 years old and when i saw it i screams “MOM ITS A BAT” because earlier we heard these sqeakings noises… turns out there are 2 BATS!!!! they creeped through the chimney and wall place and started flying around the room. I saw the bat, wings on the floor just gliding… and i started balling! My mom is terrified of bats and i feel so bad for her… and this just happened like 20 minutes ago.. Great story tho, that bat is pretty cool!!
Yeah, isn’t it crazy that they can look so scary after all the movies we watch that make them out to be “evil”. Truth is, they can eat mosquitoes like crazy and who wants THAT blood sucker to be after you? I’d rather take the bat, I think, as long as it’s not too close…LOL