Damned Bat

[JTKelly]

Easter Sunday we visited family. When we got home, my 10-year-old daughter ran up to open the garage door while carrying a gas station pop. The garage door opener is broken, so we have to do this manually, which I've come to like. Reminds me of my childhood.

As she opened the door, a damned bat fell down on top of the pop lid and plopped into the driveway.

I grabbed the lid and draw and threw them away. Wife and daughter then went inside, leaving son and me to deal with the dead bat.

Upon trying to scoop the bat up with a shovel, the thing came back to life, spread its wings, and tried to hop after my son. I truly don't know if it could fly, as I don't know what it takes for them to lift off from the ground.

Whichever, I wasn't willing to let it bite my son, so I broke its neck with the shovel.

We threw it away and went inside, whereupon I discovered my daughter drinking her pop after having poured it into a new cup. Dammit.

There had been a hole in the pop's lid where the straw went through, so we headed to the ER after calling them and getting advice to do so, just in case debris had fallen through the straw hole.

The doctor called the state, and the state advised collecting the bat and having it tested prior to starting a rabies series.

So now I have a dead bat in my garage refrigerator and need to call the county health board to see how to send the thing in.

My daughter didn't get scratched or bitten. Part of me thinks I'm overreacting (as does my wife.) Another part of me says the bat was obviously sick and we can't be too careful.

What do you think? Any experience?

It was cold.

 

[mmpsteve]

Caught a bat fishing one time when I was a kid. Was about dark, and I threw out my Rapala and it never hit the water - then I felt the tug. Reeled it in fast and thought how I could let him go, but he was stuck good, so I had to put him down. Felt bad about that. Still have that blue/silver Rapala.

I'm guessing there's all kind of bad things possible in bat feces, so can't be too careful. I say you did right to be wary.

.

 

[TAB30-06]

If it was myself I wouldn’t think a thing about it, but if it was my little one I’d probably be weary as well. Since you’ve got the bat, certainly can’t hurt to have it tested. Shame it had to die, but I understand the concern for your son getting scratched or bit.

 

[HoughMade]

I had 27+ bats that took up residence in my my rafter cavities, but not inside the house. I bought "one way" cages from Amazon and Gorilla taped them over the little gaps where they got in. Over about 5 or 6 days, they all left, but couldn't get back in (we counted them as they left). After a couple of weeks without any sounds, I took the cages down and sealed up the gaps. This was about 5 years ago and no problems since. We still have a good bat population in the woods, but not in the house.

Bats aren't that big a deal.

Oh, and I found this guy a year before that when I was working on a shed. At around 40 degrees, they pretty much curl up and stop moving, but they slowly "revive" when they warm up.

 

[Alamo]

I’d say 99.9999% chance your daughter is perfectly fine, but rabies has huge consequences so I would figure out how to get that bat tested ASAP.

I remember back in the 70s one of my friends was hanging some curtains for a show up in the girders of a high school gym. He realized he had gotten into some bat poop. No doctor would give a definitive answer as to whether you could get rabies from bat poop so he ended up going through the series of shots. He didn’t have fun.

 

[OutdoorDad]

Rabies is asymptomatic... until it isn't. Then it is too late and the only outcome is death.

My wife had a co-worker who lost her teenage son so very quickly.
Bat in fireplace. Didn't notice a bite.

Dead in a week after diagnosis.

 

[ditcherman]

Bat feces is nasty stuff.
When my youngest was about 15, he was putting hay up in a seldom used barn mow, stirred up all kinds of crap, and I’m not going to say it almost killed him, but we were all worried for a while.
I think he still feels the effects now, pretty fortunate in some ways but it really was life changing for him.

Stay away from the guano.

ETA this was from breathing something in the guano in.

 

[Mgderf]

Bat feces is nasty stuff.
When my youngest was about 15, he was putting hay up in a seldom used barn mow, stirred up all kinds of crap, and I’m not going to say it almost killed him, but we were all worried for a while.
I think he still feels the effects now, pretty fortunate in some ways but it really was life changing for him.

Stay away from the guano.

ETA this was from breathing something in the guano in.

If I remember correctly I think it's called something like the Hanta virus

There was an outbreak in New Mexico, or Arizona, somewhere out southwest back in 1993.

 

[OutdoorDad]

Easter Sunday we visited family. When we got home, my 10-year-old daughter ran up to open the garage door while carrying a gas station pop. The garage door opener is broken, so we have to do this manually, which I've come to like. Reminds me of my childhood.

As she opened the door, a damned bat fell down on top of the pop lid and plopped into the driveway.

I grabbed the lid and draw and threw them away. Wife and daughter then went inside, leaving son and me to deal with the dead bat.

Upon trying to scoop the bat up with a shovel, the thing came back to life, spread its wings, and tried to hop after my son. I truly don't know if it could fly, as I don't know what it takes for them to lift off from the ground.

Whichever, I wasn't willing to let it bite my son, so I broke its neck with the shovel.

We threw it away and went inside, whereupon I discovered my daughter drinking her pop after having poured it into a new cup. Dammit.

There had been a hole in the pop's lid where the straw went through, so we headed to the ER after calling them and getting advice to do so, just in case debris had fallen through the straw hole.

The doctor called the state, and the state advised collecting the bat and having it tested prior to starting a rabies series.

So now I have a dead bat in my garage refrigerator and need to call the county health board to see how to send the thing in.

My daughter didn't get scratched or bitten. Part of me thinks I'm overreacting (as does my wife.) Another part of me says the bat was obviously sick and we can't be too careful.

What do you think? Any experience?

Go to hospital. Take the rabies shots. The negative consequences are too high.

 

[Nazgul]

I worked at a big winery in California, great job, family owned, treated us very well. We had bats congregate in the buildings and droppings were an issue so we tried many ways to disperse them. Blowing air, water, , added lights to dark areas, etc.

On night shift I brought in a blow gun that shot those 40 cal darts. Had a lot of fun nailing them near the ceiling. They were probably protected to a degree but the sanitation risk was extreme.

Don

 

[Bassat]

Err on the side of protecting your daughter.
Hard to fault someone for that.

Rabies shots are horrible from what I've seen!
Never had them, but had a buddy ...

My daughter had the series of 6 rabies shots in the early '80s. IN HER LEG, not stomach. Things have improved. The first post-bite rabies shot is a bit scary. It goes into the bite wound(s), and is injected little by little, subq, into all areas of the bite. Painful? Yes. I believe there are 3 follow-up shots, that go intramuscular, just like a flu shot. Getting shots is traumatic for small children... usually because their parents want to molly-coddle them, scare the $#!T out them, and promise them ice cream if they behave. Fat chance after making such a big deal out of almost nothing.