Bat in a bucket

Your and your daughter can look for bats on the internet. They are fascinating and beneficial. TB

Definitely let it go if it isn't already dead...

Pound the bag with a sledgehammer, or maybe a garden rake.

I had just got home, took my dog out back, and noticed this bucket with a blue plastic bag over it, sitting by the woods.

My first thoughts were, one of my daughters' pets died (either a fish or turtle), and my wife put a bag over it so raccoons or some other animal wouldn't eat it.

I get back inside the house, and read the notes left by my wife (since we work different shifts). Ok, no mention of anything dieing, so I go check on the turtle and fish. Everything still alive and kicking.

I go in to shower, and there's a note from my daughter. The kid is in school band, so she's not home on Thursdays when I get home. The note says: " Dad, there's a bat in a bucket out back, it was on the screen door, do with it what you want."

I'm sure to get the scoop on how it scared her to death, when I go to pick her and her friends up in a few hours. And, how she had to get a neighbor to capture this thing.

Bottom-line, what the heck do I do with this thing? I can't see it because the bag's not transparent, and knowing how small these things are, it might have escaped. I just don't want this thing flying in my face. If it's in the bag, I don't want to put it in a garbage can, and have this thing fly out when the lid is lifted if it happens to escape from the bag.

Sorry for such a long post, just thought I would help fill-in the blanks on what's going on.

Thanks for the quick responses.

It's free once again, apparently they don't use much oxygen, because it didn't suffocate. Those things sure are tiny creatures.

E.L.

During the day it is likely to be torpid. when they are torpid (its sort of like hibernating but they come out of it every day) they greatly lower their metabolic rate, so much so, that they don't breathe very much. Remember too, that they are used to roosting in crevices with a lot of other bats all of whom are producing CO2 and consuming oxygen so they are adapted to those conditions.

bats are cool.

Anything that can catch flying bugs in total darkness is not going to accidently fly into your face.

We have bats here and when we go down to the creek at night with flashlights the moths etc are attracted to the light and the bats to the bugs. They may get close but they certainly don't run into us.

Anything that eats (most) bugs is my friend. That reminds me: are garter snakes considered pests? I always thought they were beneficial until I realized they eat frogs. Frogs eat bugs.

A bat got in my house once. I put on full hockey gear, put it into a bucket and let it go outside...Probably back to the neighbor's unused or should I say dis-used, garage.

Carry it back into the house. It would be best suited in the batroom.