How to catch a bat

Anyone?

There's one flying around in my house. I tried throwing a tea towel over him, but no luck. Right now he is hanging off the curtain rod in one of my bedrooms so I shut the door until I figure out what to do.

His name is Squeak

net? bucket over top and then slide a piece of board under it? Bats in houses often = rabies, so whatever you do, DON'T touch it or leave it in the house while you are asleep.

Coffee can? Is he low enough that you could reach him without endangering yourself?

Don't get bitten!

I don't have a net, unfortunately.

Last time I had one in the house I caught him by throwing a tea towel over him (I wear thick leather gloves), this one's too fast and I can't get near him. I think there's a roost in my old unused chimney outside the bedroom window, although I can't figure out how he got in.

Like this:

Open a window... chase around with a mop til he leaves

DO NOT TOUCH!

Romy: LOL! Since I don't have either a blue tablecloth thingy or a red napkin thingy to wear, I think I'll try Kat's method next.

Did you get it?

I have way too much experience with this. Used to live in a condo and had a bat infestation. Sweet actually helped me catch one of them if I remember correctly.

Anyways the best way we got rid of most of them was to open our sliding glass door at night and turn EVERY light on in the condo. The bats ended up flying towards the direction of darkness and left.

We had a few young ones we ended up catching during the day when they were sleeping. Put a plastic cup over them, slid a thin piece of cardboard between the cup and whatever the bat is on and then either release the bat or in our case with the really young ones I took them to a wildlife rehabilitator in the area that specialized in bats.

Be very careful though. The animal control recommended we go through a post rabies treatment after our infestation just in case we had been bitten in our sleep at all without knowing it.

Last time that happened to me, after unsuccessfully trying to shoo it out the door we ended up trapping it in a big rubbermaid container and taking it outside.

Well, things got interesting. After I chased the bat upstairs, opened a window and spent 15 mins trying to get it to go out, I gave up and closed the door on it. Went back downstairs and there was two more flying around in my living room....Yikes! Fortunately Leo wasn't chasing after them, just lying on his bed watching them

I opened the front door and tried chasing them out, but now it's getting close to midnight and I'm tired and to be honest, getting a little freaked out. I packed up the dog and went to spend the night at a friend's.

Obviously they've found an easy access point. Going to call pest control this morning.

Bad news is that the bat people can't come to my house until Friday. Good news is that the incidence of rabies in bats in this area is less than 1%. I'm not scared of the bats themselves, but the idea of rabies is terrifying.

Thank you Smkie. That site is far more informative than anything I came up with when I did a quick search last night. When I get home from work I am hoping that I'll be able to catch them in the daylight when they are less active.

I am a huge Bat Sanctuary and specially Lil Drac fan. I hope to be able to sculpt one as a fund rasier for him since I can send no money. I love <3 all of their efforts on saving bats, and giving haven to those that can not be released. I had shared this link on my facebook page, so I knew right where to find it. Glad I could share with you.

I like bats a lot too and enjoy having them in my yard, but in the house, not so much. I do think they're cute, although not everyone would agree with me. The ones in my house are Little Brown Bats.

There is a TV show in Canada called "Zoo Diaries" filmed mostly at the Toronto Zoo. A few years ago they were raising a bat named "Stevie" who was the most adorable little thing and you could tell his keeper was just in love with him.

When one was in the basement of the house I was living in we were able to capture it in a shoebox, but I'm pretty sure he was easier to catch than most bats since he was woken from hibernation!

I took him to a local rehab sanctuary since it was winter, and they fed him and released him in the spring. They sent me a card when they released him, which I thought was awesome.

I'm not afraid of bats, but there's something about how they fly so fast and apparently erratically in a confined space like the house that just sets off my lizard brain. When we had ours in the house, I would just totally involuntarily flinch and let out a squeak every time it got near me no matter how hard I tried to force myself not to. Once we caught it, I had no problem with it at all. It was frankly kind of embarrassing.

Yes! It's like they are dive bombing you even though you can plainly see that they never actually fly into, or touch anything. Besides, I was tired and it was getting late... that's my excuse.

My MOm caught one in a fish net like you would use for an aquarium. I got there just in time because she was trying to shake it loose outside (she can't see very well) and the poor bat was completely entangled in the mesh that had many holes in it. I asked her to bring me the sharpest sewing scissors which she did.I was able to clip the thin nylon threads away from the bat without injuring it and swoop it was gone. So really thought the shoe box idea was excellent.

If you ever get to read the story "the white Lady" I think you would find it interesting. I loaned my Readers Digest Animal Stories to someone and it hasnt' come back yet, or I could tell you the author. In the story the little white bat flew through the fan blades on low, but when it was sped up (i thought it a little sick that the person turned it up just to see what happened) the bat soared up and over the fan. I wish I could encourage more to live near me and take the rest of the mosquitoes to mosquito hell. I am thinking on how to make a bat house out of clay. I have some ideas.