Bats in the house........

[Norminn]

Eek! Watching TV late one night, I saw a shadow that I first thought was an eye floater. Second time I saw it, I paid attention and saw a bat circling in the living room. The probably entry was the vent for a whole-house fan in the hallway. Unfinished soffit replacement probably added to the bat population in the attic. The other night, two bats were in the house but only one captured (with shop vac.). How does one make sure there are no more? I know they will rest behind sliding doors and such - will they hide in clothes closets on clothes or other creepy places? Are there "bat finders" or baits to get rid of them? Household pet is a schnauzer, but they are ratters, not batters :o)

[Meat Plow]

Call you local pest control expert. There are no "bat finders" and no bait since bats eat insects.

[jmagerl]

Google bat detectors. There are plenty of them. Unfortunately they detect active bats (when they are the hardest to catch). Sleeping bats are another story

[HeyBub]

Get a female in the house. She'll tell you, quite loudly, what to do about bats.

[RickH]

This is serious business. You do NOT have to actually be bitten by a bat to contract rabies, and the vast majority of bats carry rabies. You only need to inhale the aerosol, because they often pee while flying, (kind of like how rats are forever peeing), it is easy to inhale. If you have kids, send them to live at grandmas for a while until you get the bats out. Rabies is a killer when it goes undetected. I would seriously recommend your whole family getting vacinnated with the same vaccine veterinarians regularly get, just to be safe, ask your doctor. Then call a professional exterminator.

[M Q]

...

From CDC:

"In addition, people cannot get rabies from having contact with bat guano (feces), blood, or urine, ..."

[RickH]

Aerosol contraction...

[Pete C.]

There are other nasty things that you can get from bat crap, histoplamosis is one I think.

[M Q]

Your link wouldn't work for me. I agree with Pete C. that bat crap is nasty and potentially dangerous. I think that we all agree that having the bats removed is the best course of action. However, aerosol transmission of rabies, while possible, appears to be rare and unlikely:

From Merck veterinary manual: "Under most circumstances, there is no danger of aerosol transmission of rabies. However, aerosol transmission has occurred under very specialized conditions in which the air contains a high concentration of suspended particles or droplets carrying viral particles. Such conditions have been responsible for laboratory transmission under less than ideal containment situations. There has also documented aerosol transmission in 1 bat cave. Oral and nasal secretions containing virus were probably aerosolized from tens of millions of bats." (

)

From CDC: "Inhalation of aerosolized rabies virus is also a potential non-bite route of exposure, but other than laboratory workers, most people are unlikely to encounter an aerosol of rabies virus."

Elsewhere: "In 26 years, there have been only ... two human deaths probably due to nonbite aerosol transmission. Far more people die every year from dog attacks, bee stings, power mower accidents, or even from being struck by lightning."

[Norminn]

I wasn't taking this as seriously until I checked the CDC link. This link won't work for me - it requires browser to accept cookies, but I think my firewall is blocking it. The bat problem is at my son's home, and I was visiting. Last night my son heard the dog bark in my grandson's room and went in to see. There was a bat circling near the ceiling fan and he then found another a short time later in the living room. I have sent more info to him. Thank-you all.

[RickH]

quoted text -

The only reason I posted my original reply is because in Kane county here the local officials came on the news last week and said aerosol contraction is a possibility, but a slight one I guess. Kane county last week found that most of the bats they tested were rabid so the timing of this was fresh in my mind.

[Pete C.]

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"documented aerosol transmission in 1 bat cave"... Just what I wanted to hear considering I go caving and some are bat caves. My chances of winning the big lottery are probably better however...

[Lar]

or... maybe only 2%-5% on average of the various populations tested.

it is advisable however to seek emergency care for preventive treatment for rabies if direct contact with a bat occurs, a sleeping person awakens to find a bat in the room, or if a bat is found in a room with an unattended child, a mentally disabled person or an intoxicated person.

Lar

[Bob F]

Then you won't have bats for long.

Bob

[coffee]

Find out where the bats are getting into the building. Then repair it or seal off the entry area with hardware cloth or another suitable covering.

For the bats that are already in the building you can do what one of my neighbors came up with a while back. Use tennis racquets to nail them and then throw them out. Hopefully you only stun them but in any case they become no more of a nucience in the house.

coffee

[BZ]

Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot...

You take it from there.

[hebintn]

RickH is right on the mark. My son lives in Mi with his wife and 4 kids. They had a problem with bats and one of them was in the youngest daughter's room during the night when she was sleeping. Even though there was no evidence of a bite the county health people said that a bat has such tiny sharp teeth that a bite could go undetected and that a bite was not necessary to contract rabies a disease which can be fatal. They strongly reccomended that the entire family get the vacinations, which is a series of shots over several weeks, the number of which is based on body weight. So, of course the adults had to get multiple shots and fortunately the little ones needed fewer. But the whole series for the family cost over $10,000. They are now protected for life, but it has been a terrible ordeal for them, not to mention the expense. My understanding is the keeping bats out of your house is like keeping mice out. The can get in through tiny holes, so the only option is to go over the entire house and seal any entry points. GOOD LUCK.

[ransley]

find their entrance then take a few gallons of amnonia in a bucket and leave it in the attic, be sure they are gone after a few days and seal the holes up

[RickH]

[mm]

I"m guessing if there were two and you captured one, there is at least one.

Who you gonna call? Bat-busters.

I think Norminn is a female, but she doesn't seem loud.

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