I’m starting out this post with a semi-cute picture of a bat because down below there is a decidedly NOT so cute picture. Consider yourself warned.
We have been keeping Belle confined to the laundry room and garage at night (and she can also go outside if she wants) because of her predilection for bringing home night time guests and letting them go in our bedroom. Like the occasional bird or rat or mouse. Most of the time they are pretty much unscathed. I think she is bringing them in because she likes all the excitement of us hopping around trying to rescue the poor creatures.
So on Saturday morning I wake up around 6:15am and go to feed her. I opened the laundry room door and there is this thing swooping about. I screamed and ran outside. The creature, now identified as a bat, was now hanging upside down just above the door to the deck (the laundry room has three doors – one to the kitchen, one to the garage and the one to the deck). We closed off the access to the kitchen and opened the door to the deck so it could fly out. Only it didn’t want to budge. So Rick went to the garage door and opened it slightly and started throwing towels and sponges at it (you work with what you have in a laundry room).
It just kind of crawled about a bit but didn’t fly out, cooperatively, like we were hoping. Rick then gets a long PVC pipe and gently nudged it which did make it fly around so Rick slammed the garage door shut and when we peeked back into the laundry room we didn’t see it anywhere. I was watching the deck door from the safety of the kitchen window and I didn’t see it fly out so I made Rick check everywhere in the laundry room.
So we hoped for the best and went about our business when about a half hour later it started swooping around the kitchen. I ran back outside and asked Rick to toss my car keys because I was leaving. For ever.
The little bat landed on top of my cookbooks and seemed content to stay there. Rick got out his shop vac and sucked it up and took it outside and let it go. It flew out and landed on a post and we knew that Belle would just bring it back into the house. So Rick put on some gloves and carried it out by the creek and let it go there.
Okay now for the icky picture………
I was not that close to the bat – I stood as far back as I could and used the zoom lens to take the picture. That is a face only a mother bat could love.
The book Stellaluna is a lovely read if you have small children. We have a copy of it packed away somewhere.
Eww! I tend to forget to clean my ceiling fan blades. I swear if you take some of that dust, stick legs, spooky wings and a face on it you would have what is being held in the above picture! Hope Ozzy doesn’t come back! Eww!
Ok, I may be the only female on planet earth who feels this way, but I think they are kind of cute. I’m not afraid of them and I actually like to see them swooping around the back yard because what I really hate is mosquitos! The poor little guy just needed a helping hand, Glad you didnt kill it:>)
EEK!
Perhaps keeping your little kitty inside would be the better way to go. Too many types of wildlife are losing out to family cats. The National Audubon Society has declared that “cats may have been involved in the extinction of more bird species than any other cause except habitat destruction.”
Perhaps keeping your little kitty inside would be the better way to go. Too many types of wildlife are losing out to family cats. The National Audubon Society has declared that “cats may have been involved in the extinction of more bird species than any other cause except habitat destruction.”
Oh ick – yucky! Looks nothing like that pretty bat on the Stellaluna book! Glad you were able to free it from your kitchen!
Ohh – bats are not bad…just think about all the misquitos they eat! We have a bat bridge in Houston where every evening you can go at dusk and watch them come out to feed – literly by the thousands!
I agree it’s not as cute as the bat on the cover of the book – yikes.
Karen
What an adventure with Mr. Bat!! Yikes. I love the “Stellaluna” book!