Bat Wrangling
Had to do a bit of “bat wrangling” the other night. Yes, every so often – especially over the summer – we have a bat flying around inside late at night, much to Amy’s displeasure. I hardly ever “see him, or her, straight away but I have a “presense” of something there. A shadow, a flickering light, a high pitched “cheep” sound. Anyhow I “know” it’s there often before I actually see it.
I actually don’t mind the bat flying around inside though. He/she is quite cute really – like a pet mouse but with needle sharp teeth and leathery wings – and it’s very discreet and keeps to himself/herself. I actually marvel at the skill in flying and the stealth in which the bat goes about it’s business. The damn thing is so stealthy that that the dogs hardly ever see it, though they might hear it’s high pitched sounds. It really freaks Amy out though and she runs to the bedroom and cowers under the blankets. I’ve caught the little bugger a dozen or so times over the past few years and let him/her go again outside, but there must be something about the house that the bat really likes. I suspect it’s food – well that’s gotta be it really – but I always wondered whether or not there was actually enough critters in the house for it to eat. After I caught the bat and drove it to it’s new location 5 miles away, Amy jumped online a Googled “bats” and found out that they eat, amongst other things, mosquitos! What the hell? There’s nothing much to a mosquito you know, meal wise, but Amy found out they could eat 1000 mosquitos an hour and around 6000 a night! Now THAT would add up to a little bit of eating for sure!
A number of years ago I made a makeshift “bat catcher” from a wire coat hanger, a long pole, some sticky tape and a plastic shopping bag. Surprisingly it works rather well but it’s a little unwieldy at 9-10 feet long (or however long it was). A week or so ago I decided to cut the pole down a bit and now it’s only around 4 foot long. I don’t quite have the “reach” any more but I just tend to sit down in the room and do a half hearted swipe every time he/she flies past. To my astonishment this actually works rather well. I’m not sure how smart bats are but he/she probably doesn’t mind a “rest” every so often…..even if it IS in a plastic bag! As the bat probably realizes that I let it go each and every time I don’t think it’s really that fussed?
As I mentioned this time I decided to drive the bat to a new location away from the house – a nice park area right next to the river. I wasn’t sure how far away I would need to go (turns out to be 400 miles) and whether or not bats have a good sense of direction (they do! Excellent in fact as it turns out), but I figured 5 miles would be pretty safe (it’s not, apparently). Of course Amy found all of this info out in her Google travels afterwards. I’ve yet to see the little bugger put in an appearance around here since, but I’m kinda expecting he or she will. It wouldn’t bother me though as I don’t mind having the little bugger about……Especially if he’s eating 1000′s of mosquitos a night!
I’ve told Amy to brace herself and learn to live with it. After all, short of killing the poor thing (which is not an option at all), there’s very little else that can be done.
I’m not sure she was entirely impressed with that answer…..
