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10:30 at night, a bat is hanging from a curtain in our apartment. I don't know how it got in. Probably not a health problem, but ....

Sitting in our TV room, behind a closed door, psyching myself to leave and go to our bedroom, which will have its door closed.

Call to exterminator tomorrow AM.

Still, I'd be happier if this bat had stayed outside.

Oh, crap. That happened to me a couple months ago. The cats brought it in, and it was flying in a huge circle around my livingroom!

Can you get it trapped in a box or basket or something and swoop it back outside?

Just thinking of that bat gives me the heebie jeebies.

Yeah, well, quite a few rabid bats found in our neck of the woods. I'd be a bit nervous myself.

Happened here a few years ago. I remember my teenage son saying to me sternly, "Mom, go back into the bedroom, GO INTO THE BEDROOM!" because he knew I'd be freaking. My hero...

Yikes!!! Hopefully Plainsong is in bed....

Carry a broom? Good luck, man!

Just get the kitchen strainer, capture it and put it outside. Geez; don't call an exterminator for one bat! I'd do it for you if I were closer...

Jeezo pete..... I LOVE bats, and we have A lot of them around our house.

Just calmly and quietly walk up to the bat, and use a dishtowel to cover her. Take her outside, and set her on the grass. She will take off.

They are very shy and all they want to do is eat bugs. The bats in our area do NOT carry rabies like they used to. Bats are engdangered in many areas from contracting a disease caused from a bacteria in many caves. It makes then sick and weak. IT's quite sad actually.

I hope your exterminator doesn't exterminate her, and just captures and releases her.

If you're not sure how it got in, I can totally understand bringing in a professional to ensure you don't have a bigger issue than one stray bat. I have a friend who is on year 3 of trying to bat-proof her attic. No fun.

((((sisoon & plainsong))))

Try opening the doors and maybe it will fly out. We had a bird in our apartment one time and we opened the sliding door and he flew out.

Jeezo pete..... I LOVE bats, and we have A lot of them around our house.

Just calmly and quietly walk up to the bat, and use a dishtowel to cover her.

Really? Is rabies not an issue in your area? We have had several accounts of people having contracted it by only incidental contact with bats, no bites. I love them, too.

Bats are a huge rabies vector species here in NC. YMMV, depending on location.

I have found a badminton racket is a nice investment...usually a tap from the back brings them down....they hit the ground stunned...and you can then get them out the door quickly...

Now mind you....a "tap" not a full-out John McEnro tennis serve....

And you have to go for it after they've went by you...if you swing from the front, they have a sense, and divert away....

Really on the healthy bats here.

It's also often over treatment from medical professionals than true exposure that happens. Someone comes in the er and says there was a bat in my house and now I have this mark on my arm, neck, leg etc. So the ER is going to treat. They can't in good practice disregard and not treat "just in case"

Like I said they are very shy and tend to go limp when covered.

So what was the outcome. Did they get her out?

When we hit the sack last night, it was hanging from a curtain by our balcony. Unfortunately, the balcony is fully screened, so it's not an exit point. The screens were down for a week, though, and they went back up Tuesday. I'm hoping the bat entered then, and we just didn't notice it.

When we woke this morning, it was nowhere to be seen. It took me an hour to decide to call our management company, and our manager immediately called a bat control company.

The guy showed up, searched for about 30 minutes and finally found it hanging from the back of a sculpture of an Indian classical dancer that hangs on one of our walls. The sculpture was the same color as the bat.

The bat was very gently put into a small plastic container. I believe it will go to a lab for testing. If it's healthy, it will become a lab bat or get released, I think.

We never would have found it, unless it died of malnutrition, so I'm glad the bat control guy visited successfully.

I'm pretty urban. Even so, I'm fine with bats flying around outside; just not in our house.

I'm pretty urban.

YEAH you are.

Glad it worked out for everyone. Been wondering all day!

Glad it was a good result and you are safe, Sisoon.

I like bats, but there have been a handful of rabid bats in our (common) area in the past couple of years. I'm glad your little bat was retrieved and removed. Most are safe--and I'm always happy to see them when walking in the evening because they really are gentle and useful. Any bug-eater is my friend, if she's not a vector of disease. (Not sure why I've made your bat a female. But I'm sure she is :)) I'm not wild about the presence of wildlife indoors, in general, though. And with the disease potential, better safe than sorry.

http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=TWCRZjUGVO4

Watch this. It gets really good at about 2 minutes in.

Wow, you guys are allowed to touch/get rid of bats in your homes? In the UK, bats are a protected species and it's illegal to disturb them. My parents had bats in their attic for years and weren't allowed to do a thing about it....Mind you, we don't have rabies in the UK!

Just last night I was sitting outside watching the evening chicken show, and there were 5 bats swooping around eating mosquitos (I hope) and some fat dragon flies....

One of the funniest bat events happened at a large family reunion. A relative has a very large dorm style cabin which sleeps around 20 people. One of my aunts talks constantly, just never shuts up. As everyone prepared for bed, a small bat was flying and swooping around and it got tangled up in my aunt's high, ratted up hairdo. Took several people to free the poor creature and aunt was rendered speechless for a while. Highlight of the reunion.