So a bat just flew into my apartment. Happened once about a year ago( actually pretty cute little guy). I know they are known for rabies, I quickly got the very curious and hunting cats locked in a bedroom and all other doors shut except the outside door it came through. After locking up the cats I cant find it anywhere. I thought I had a good idea of the area but nope not there. how worried do I need to be for both me and the cats? What are the odds it flew back outside while I was putting the cats away which took about 45 seconds? and I am positive it was a bat nothing else flys like that in my living room.

Well nevermind found the sneaky little guy, he was hiding in my amp case blended in perfectly must have missed him 10 times. got him outside and flew away nicely(and this time closed the door). Bats are awesome just dont want my kitties getting hurt.

Nasty little devils
Glad everyone is safe and or survived. They are good insect eaters.

I love bats they are amazing and so cool. I just dont want any kitties to get hurt by them. From what i understand if one gets bit they just get put down so I wont let that happen to my fellas. So glad I got him back outside and hunting those bad bugs.

Um, rabies vaccinations, mebbe?

where did that info come from on getting bit?

Bats are fine outdoors.
When one penetrates my perimeter, he is greeted with a tennis racquet.
Don't want to expose my indoor kitties to rabies.

I chased one for 20 minutes in my Iowa City old hotel apartment. The kind of place with exposed pipes on the ceiling. I lost him for a few minutes and found him pancaked on a pipe tired and panting. He didn't look so bad so I went back to bed. He was gone in the morning and never saw him again.

I once saw a cat pluck a bat out of mid air. Kitty jumped about 4 feet straight up and nailed it. Ran off with the bat in its mouth.

A very small percentage of bats carry rabies.

I have a colony occupying a large bat house in my front yard. (and one poor exile that is being forced to live behind one of my shutters - must be the omega)

And no/minimal mosquito's.......

I have a bat house on my home with approximately 30 small brown bats roosting there. They have a voracious appetite for mosquito's. According to a Penn State University
study one brown bat can eat as many as 600 mosquitos an hour, the routinely eat there weight in insects per day. My house is in a forest with a creek in the back, it is ideal bat territory. Personally I love em. To the OP if you ever get another one in the house close off the room it is in and open all the windows. It will be gone in no time they have no desire to hang out with you... They get tired and scared which is probably what was going on when you found him..

quote:

where did that info come from on getting bit?

I actually dont remember but I I think a vet I was talking to the first time it happened. I never did verify so maybe its entirely wrong.

Thanks for the replies everyone glad that its back out eating bugs and not making the cats break things.

He did go to the Mesa cover so he does atleast know quality.

one family reunion out in the middle of no where in idaho, someone put up fly strips in the pavilion since, at night, all the bugs were flying in to see the lights. In the morning, we had a bat stuck to one of the ribbons of flypaper. I gloved-up in some work gloves someone had, and slowly and gently tried to get the bat free. It took a bit, and he was definitely not too grateful of the process. I set him up under a tree and he kind of climbed up into the tree a bit. He seemed to lick the sticky residue off his wings and drool it out - it was interesting. I looked up for a couple seconds to tell someone something, and when I looked back, he was gone.

bats are cool.

Now you just have to find the rest of them.

quote:

Originally posted by bushmasterM4:
I love bats they are amazing and so cool. I just dont want any kitties to get hurt by them. From what i understand if one gets bit they just get put down so I wont let that happen to my fellas. So glad I got him back outside and hunting those bad bugs.

Not quite as bad as 'just getting put down', at least here. But very expensive if you haven't kept shots up and don't get the booster done in time. Here are the rabies guidelines for Orange County NC, where bats are known carriers of rabies and we have multiple rabies alerts every year for wild animals (foxes, bats, raccoons, ...)

Essentially, if a pet had their Rabies shots, and gets re-vaccinated within 5 days from the bite, they're fine. Otherwise (unvaccinated or not able to get revaccinated in time) the choice is immediate euthanasia or 4 months quarantine at a vet, at owner expense.

I like bats, too. Anything that eats mosquitoes is good in my book. Summer evenings, sometimes they take skimming drinks from the neighbors swimming pool. When it gets just dark enough, you can't see or hear the bats but you can see the ripples in the water from their drinking. If you didn't know what was going on, ripples coming out of nowhere would really seem odd.