A Bat in the Toilet

[John Hart]

I woke up this morning and went into the bathroom as my normal routine dictates, only to find that a bat had somehow landed in the toilet over night. (no...I don't have any pics!!):rolleyes: This is a first for me. Now that I think about it...it was probably a first for him too! It really creeped me out at first....but I really had to go...so I grabbed a hand towel and laid it over him and scooped him out.....then took him outside and let him go. I think we're friends now.:)

I don't know what kind of bat it was....probably a Fruit bat or a brown bat or vampire or something. I have elected NOT to tell the family about this.;) :D

[Karl Laustrup]

I woke up this morning and went into the bathroom as my normal routine dictates, only to find that a bat had somehow landed in the toilet over night. (no...I don't have any pics!!):rolleyes: This is a first for me. Now that I think about it...it was probably a first for him too! It really creeped me out at first....but I really had to go...so I grabbed a hand towel and laid it over him and scooped him out.....then took him outside and let him go. I think we're friends now.:)

I don't know what kind of bat it was....probably a Fruit bat or a brown bat or vampire or something. I have elected NOT to tell the family about this.;) :D

Wise choice on all counts John.

Now you've got to figure out how it got in the house in the first place? :confused:

Karl

[Jason Roehl]

Look on the bright side, John. At least yours was easy to catch. I've had 3 bats in the house since I've lived here--all 3 were airborne when I discovered them. I had to chase them around with a blanket and catch them mid-flight. I'm not sure who was more tired when it was all said and done.

Be thankful you saw it, too--what if you were real tired and just needed to sit down? :eek: :eek: :eek: :cool: :rolleyes: :D

[John Hart]

....Now you've got to figure out how it got in the house in the first place? :confused:

Karl

Yep...that's something that I'm having trouble figuring out. There were no open windows or doors and the chimneys don't allow access to the house. Maybe just by chance when someone let the dog out last night or something.:confused:

[John Hart]

....
Be thankful you saw it, too--what if you were real tired and just needed to sit down? :eek: :eek: :eek: :cool: :rolleyes: :D

THAT's what I was thinking!!!! Or worse yet....if one of the girls did in the middle of the night! Sheesh....guaranteed nightmares.

[Steve Ash]

John, our first house was a drafty old farmhouse and we had all kinds of critters in it. Snakes in the basement ( yeah I hate snakes) chipmunks in the attic, but we also had bats. It was not uncommon night to find bats in the living room occasionally, but one night my wife was dreaming she was at a airport and planes were buzzing around her head. she would have continued to believe it was a dream had a bat not decided to make a landing in her hair :eek: She woke up screaming.

Those little buggers can squeeze themselves very small and get into tight spots, might be hard to find were he came in at but check doors, windows,floor vents...it really is hard to say but maybe he did come in when a door may have been left open for a while.

That next year we built a new house....no more bats....happy wife, happy life!

[Ned Bulken]

Yep...that's something that I'm having trouble figuring out. There were no open windows or doors and the chimneys don't allow access to the house. Maybe just by chance when someone let the dog out last night or something.:confused:

had some experience with bats in a house I was renting, they can get through amazingly tiny spaces.

[Joe Pelonio]

Just think how lucky it is that you spotted him before sitting down.

My wife is deathly afraid of bats, so I'd keep it quiet too. I think they're cute, and they do eat a lot of mosquitos.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

In years past, we would often sit out on a neighbors patio and watch the bats make scooping runs on the water in the neighbors swimming pool.

John......you don't have a belfry on that house do you?:eek: :rolleyes: :D

[Andy Hoyt]

John - Get that bat to return.

And then let your realtor know that you've just added an upgrade to the house's systems.

Automatic mother-in-law removal device

[Glen Peters]

Be careful with bats. They are rabies carriers, probably less than 1 % of the bat population has it.

Last month a boy was bitten by a bat in Houston. By the time treatment was sought it was to late and the boy died. Several of his close friends had to take the rabies shots as a precautionary measure.

If exposed to rabies and treatment is started in time you are Ok. However once symptoms appear it is too late, you will die.

Just be careful when you encounter a bat.

Glen

[Andy Fox]

The poor guy probably thought, "Hey, here's my own personal cave-suite with a great water source!" :)

You're the man: By letting him go, you just sent hundreds to thousands of mosquitoes to their doom tonight. :cool:

http://www.ohiodnr.com/news/oct02/1017batscolumn.htm

Edit:

When our house was (unsuccessfully) up for sale last year, the online ad bragged that it had "2 1/2 bats". I'm not sure if it's the 2 bats or the 1/2 bat that scared people away. :eek:

[Jim O'Dell]

My first thought was, Gee don't they have indoor plumbing where you live? :eek: :D :D
I'd look at the chimney if you have one and get some screen over any openings in it, or around the eaves. Jim.

[Don Baer]

Well John where else would you expect to find a bat but in the batroom..:D

[Jerry Olexa]

I agree do not tell your daughters or family. They'll have sleepless nights and you'll be up all night protecting them from the unknown.:) Check for openings tho...

[John Hart]

Well.....I think I got it figured out. He came from the bathroom exhaust. It is open to the attic and the attic has a non-screened vent....And, it's right above the toilet. The opening in the ceiling is large enough for a bat to squeeze through....but once he gets through the hole, there probably wasn't enough time for him to spread his wings before he went PLOP!!!! into the toilet. :p

I wonder what that would have been worth on America's Funniest Videos? :rolleyes:

Thanks for the Link Andy..that was very informative. I think he was a brown bat. I didn't spread his wings or anything, but while he was doing the backstroke, I'd say he had a wingspan of about 12"

[Lee Schierer]

Thanks for not killing the poor guy. He had already had a bad night. Think of how you would feel waking up all wet with some guy about ready to pee on you! :D They do far more good than bad in my book.

Good think your wife didn't find it in the middle of the night. You'd probably still hear the echoes of the scream.

[Jim O'Dell]

Thanks for not killing the poor guy. He had already had a bad night. Think of how you would feel waking up all wet with some guy about ready to pee on you! :D They do far more good than bad in my book.

Good think your wife didn't find it in the middle of the night. You'd probably still hear the echoes of the scream.

Yeah, come to think about it, I caught a cricket the other night, threw it in the toilet. Man, did I get an ear full the next day. Jim

[Bob Weisner]

I would be very concerned about Rabies. The Bat should have been killed and tested for Rabies.

[Roger Fitzsimonds]

John,

We have had 2 bat incidents in the house one was perched above the front entry door. My wife spied him while we were eating dinner. well that was the end on that meal and any peace in the house. Like you caught him in a towel and he screamed when I picked him up. I don't know why, but I found the wife and daughter in the shed outside armed with badminton rackets. The next one chased the wife a couple of laps through the living and dining area until she could get outside. We were bringing them in on firewood I guess. we started dropping the firewood before it came in and the bats stayed outside.

[Larry Klaaren]

Talk to your doctor or a public health official about the rabies possibilities. There are some variables about how that is handled.

Larry

[John Shuk]

John - Get that bat to return.

And then let your realtor know that you've just added an upgrade to the house's systems.

Automatic mother-in-law removal device
If my MIL was at the house at the same time there'd be 2 bats!

[Barry Stratton]

Wait a minute....... The bat was IN your toliet????

I'm still trying to figure out how you can live in a house full of females and get away with leaving the toliet seat up???????? I think my instincts would kick in and I'd be explaining the late night barrage of 45 ACP rounds while trying to shut the water off to a destroyed toliet! got to love country life:D

[Steve Clardy]

Reminds me of the time we had a black snake in our bedroom:eek:

And the wife turned into a bat----:eek: ;) :rolleyes:

[Michael Stafford]

Obviously the poor flying mammal thought he was in the bat-room.....Maybe he spoke with a lisp....

I would at least check with a doctor after touching the critter, John. My wife went through the whole series of rabies shots after picking up two dead bats that were in our yard. Better safe than sorry.

[Steve Clardy]

Bat-room. :D :D :D

[Curt Fuller]

So John, was the bat hanging upside down from the toilet seat, gripping the edge of the bowl, or doggy paddling around in the water?

[Michael Stafford]

So John, was the bat hanging upside down from the toilet seat, gripping the edge of the bowl, or doggy paddling around in the water?

I just realized, it could have been a bat-fish....:eek: :D

[Frank Chaffee]

John Hart,
Once upon once upon a time, I lived in a house on the northern side of a hill that had a deck cantilevered northwards, sitting below the tree canopy and above the ground.

Come sundown the resident bats spent the better part of an hour egressing from their daytime domicile. Read; thousands and thousands of bats flowing outwards from the eaves of this house.

During the years I lived there we had notoriously bad mosquito problems in our area…, but not near me.

[Frank Hagan]

The rabies fear is overdone. The stats are very low for rabid bats, but very high for doctors treating people as a preventative measure, so the two instances are often confused. It used to be that dogs caused more rabies in humans than bats, but nowadays, its usually bats (our efforts to innoculate our pets has worked wonders). Dogs still do kill more people than rabid bats. Transmission is from their saliva, so they usually have to bite you or you get their saliva on your hands and then transport it into your eyes, mouth or mucous membranes.

The CDC keeps the stats on bats; good article at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/bats_&_rabies/bats&.htm. Chances are good that if the bat vigorously flew away when you let him go, he was OK. A bat lying on the ground during daytime is usually sick, and should be left alone or safely captured and taken to the authorities.

Another good site is the Bat Conservation site, http://www.batcon.org/home/index.asp?idPage=91&idSubPage=62

We had bats in our walls here in Southern California. We found out that the nocturnal habits of bats are to fly and feed starting around dusk, and then come back and party from about 3 am to dawn. Bat love in your bedroom wall is not romantic, although I tried to convince my wife that it was.

For our bats, the entrance point was about a 3/16" crack between the chimney and the stucco. They would flatten out and crawl back in there. I didn't want to kill them, and I didn't want them to die in the wall and stink up the place. I found the best way to get rid of them humanely is to drape bird netting out about 6" from their opening into the house, and let it extend 1' down past the opening ... so that they can "drop out" of their lair to go foraging. But when they come back expecting another night of wild bat love they can't navigate through the netting.

I guess at that point they say "Holy abstinence, Batman!" and go find another place to play.

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

I love bats myself. Really. Used to build bat houses and everything.

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

Not only is the rabies fear overdone, but especially in this case. One of the symptoms of later-stage rabies is fear of water (hydrophobia), so I can't imagine a bat with same winding up in the toilet.

[John Hart]

Holy Bat Spit! I go away for a while and come back and find all these responses! Thanks for all the concern and advice....but I'm not going to worry about this guy. He was swimming in the toilet and I never came in direct physical contact with him. Plus I washed my hands with antibacterial soap immediately afterward. He seemed healthy too. When I took him outside, I just set the towel on the ground and he crawled out of it and climbed up on the bricks of the front steps next to me and took a breather. Then he took off. I thought he was kinda cool.:)

[Karl Laustrup]

Hey John. Have you been in the attic? Are there more bats up there? Is there bat guano? If so can we officially call you "BATTY". :D

If not are you going to cover the opening you mentioned? Can we still call you "BATTY"? ;) :D


Karl

[John Hart]

Hey Karl,
I haven't been in the attic for a couple years. There's just a small access door and it's not a storage area. I have to go up there before we move and get it all cleaned up and inspected so I'll take a look in a week or so. Last time I was up there, there was nothing of concern. But maybe now....perhaps a different story. And, yes...I'll be correcting the exhaust fan issue as well. That's a job that is long over due....like so many others on my list.:o I'll blame procrastination....or maybe the lathe!;)

[Jerry Olexa]

Next time, hit him with a "bat" bat.:D :)

[John Hart]

Or a Bat Bonker!!!:D

[Frank Hagan]

While the rabies thing is overdone, you do have to be careful about the guano! There is a danger of getting a fungus infection called histoplasmosis. Its from direct contact with the fungus spores that are sometimes found in moist bat guano. Some people are also sensitive to mold spores that grow in guano. So you need to protect against that if you have to clean out the attic. There are approved masks that work fine, and I think you are supposed to limit the dust raised (check the CDC site or call a bat-poop specialist!)

Bats are cool ... and the one you found appeared to be pretty healthy if he took a breather and then took off. My cats brought a bat into the house once, and it took us forever to catch him and set him free.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Or a Bat Bonker!!!:D

Out of curiosity......how would you turn the wings on a "Bat Bonker"?:confused:

[Joe Pelonio]

Well.....I think I got it figured out. He came from the bathroom exhaust. It is open to the attic and the attic has a non-screened vent....And, it's right above the toilet. The opening in the ceiling is large enough for a bat to squeeze through....but once he gets through the hole, there probably wasn't enough time for him to spread his wings before he went PLOP!!!! into the toilet. :p


Check the vent hoses too, in the attic. We get stupid starlings in the walls
of the house. They entered by poking thru the bathroom vent screen on the outside wall, then broke thru the plastic hose and into the area between the 1st floor ceiling and 2nd floor floor, and down into the walls and couldn't get out.

[Ernie Nyvall]

I have elected NOT to tell the family about this.;) :D

I know I've got your phone number around here somewhere:p Let me see... what do I want? Hmmm:D

I once slept in the mouth of a cave my brothers and I were exploring in the back woods of Arkansas. All settled in our sleeping bags at dusk and... the sky went completely black. Next, there were four guys in their underwear running around slapping at the air. That must have been a pretty site.:eek: It seemed like there were millions of bats.

Ernie