Because Bats

Update: Five shots later (one in both arms, both ass cheeks, and an upper thigh…)

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Rest easy. I’m not dying of the rabies this week. Also, that is my arm. Not an ass cheek.

***

I pretty much asked for this

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Here’s the thing, I’m not entirely sure that the second bat wasn’t actually snuggled up in my covers for part of the night.

So… rabies shots, anyone?

53 Responses

  1. Do you have attic? I’d check to make sure you don’t have bat commune lurking somewhere in your house at this point.

    Also, you can very easily make homemade bat boxes and place them around your property to attract the bats the boxes to live in and away from your house. We put them up around our camp it worked awesome.

    1. And the added benefit of them eating up the bad bugs around your place. A whole new meaning to the phrase “will work for food”!?! πŸ™‚

  2. Do you need a rabies shot simply for contact, even if you weren’t bit? (Legit question. I haven’t a clue.)

    Also – have you figured out why bats love your bedroom so much? The stray bat every once in a while could be written off as a fluke. Multiple bats showing up with alarming regularity may suggest they’ve taken up residence. Might be time to start sleeping with garlic & a wooden stake next to your pillow.

  3. OMG.. I’m dying laughing, I’m sorry I’m dying laughing because it’s not really funny (well you know, unless it’s not happening to me.. in which case it’s a little bit funny… don’t hold it against me ok?). Honestly though I would definitely have someone inspect the attic and yeah, I’d probably suck it up and get the shots… from what I’ve heard their bites can be so small that some people don’t even realize they’ve been bitten and to die from such a stupid thing would so royally suck.

  4. we had bats a few years ago – baby bats. i think we actually had a nursery in our walls somewhere. good times…

    i can’t remember what we read about rabies, but i know that i was more worried about the pets getting rabies than us getting it.

    good luck!

  5. If you still have the bat, definitely contact your local health department or state health department. Probably a safe bet to call them anyways, just to see what the official recommendations would be. We get a lot of bats around our house and while it’s awesome to watch them swoop and dive at dusk, I’m still always worried about rabies in the back of my mind.

  6. yowshers! I might start sleeping with the lights on. Would that even help? lol

    Hope you find the bat cave soon! πŸ™‚

  7. Go to the Dr. TODAY. There is a very real possibility you were bitten and don’t know it. After a rabid bite, without treatment, people die. It’s not something to ignore.
    Margaret

  8. Just for some perspective, I’m in the Michiana area, and I don’t believe there are any recorded instances of bat-related rabies in humans in the history of ever. That’s not to say you would be so lucky, just a reminder not to panic.

    1. I thought there was an episode of “Extraordinary People” (or something like that) where a girl was bit by a rabid bat in a church–and actually lived (though with many problems).

  9. Could be coming in through the chimney. Some wire mesh should help. I also hear they are protected in some communities so be careful who you tell! πŸ˜‰

    1. I know we had to have a cap installed on our fireplace when we bought this house/cottage, and as I live on a hill where I can see down into town, I’ve noticed A LOT of houses do not have caps on their chimneys. Maybe that’s a good idea, to get one? πŸ™‚

      1. I’m with Robin’s advice. Remember last year (getting ready for winter, 2012) when I strongly suggested you install caps on the chimney flues? You didn’t do it, too busy chasing donkeys with no pants on! SOoooo – you left the roof door open, dear! Them suckers are coming right down the chimney to wreak havoc on your life!. FIRST_THINGS_FIRST! I had the pleasure of a chimney and fireplace, but the chimney became populated with mice, squirrels, owls, and other fowls. Then I finally wised up and installed caps and screens (also kept the hail, snow and rain out, too)! No more critter troubles! Put your pants on and get busy, young lady! (LOL)

  10. I think we may live in a parallel universe πŸ™‚ Quite sure of it. We had the battle of the bats over the weekend. I’m really, REALLY hoping that closing off the bathroom fireplace did the trick for us. Cleaning bat juice off the wall = no fun at all. I chalked it up to one of those must-have experiences for every old house owner.

  11. I considered commenting on your last bat-related post that rabies was a legit concern. Should have followed through on that. Also, if your cat is chewing on bats, that’s a very serious situation (even if it is vaccinated) and you should probably contact your vet.

  12. When we had bats the health department told us there was nothing they could do, and the pest control people concurred. We figured out how they were getting into the attic (a hole in an eve). Every night for about a week we camped out in lawn chairs at dusk counting the bats as the left the house. Once we were confident on the number of bats – out came the ladder and the whole was patched. The bats moved homes and haven’t been back to the attic since.

    1. I saw on one of those goofy reality shows that they did that to get rid of the bats – watched at night to make sure they were all out then they put up screening since they were coming in through a vent that needed to stay open in the attic for ventilation. I’d be more concerned about the bat guano than anything – that stuff is TOXIC as he**! We’ve been lucky here where we are in Caspian, MI (the U.P.) and haven’t had a bat problem. Coyotes and wolves yes, bats, not so much! πŸ˜‰

  13. You need more cats. I also heard bats travel in twos. Good luck with that! I had bats in my house when my son was small. But that story is for another time and a six pack!

  14. We had bats in our old house growing up and we all kept tennis rackets in our bedrooms for the sole purpose of knocking them down mid-flight. We never got rid of them all and they would pop up in the oddest places at the most inconvenient times….

  15. oh my gosh.
    I am so sorry for laughing, seriously, but that is hilarious…in a sleep deprivation, i’m holding onto my wits in kind of funny.
    IIIIIII would probably get a rabies shot? Do you think you got bit?

  16. Trish has excellent advice… try to isolate where they are getting in and out. And as long as you are not bitten, don’t worry about rabies for yourself, but for the cat, contact the vet and ask. Bat houses work wonders, and if they are living outside, it will help with the mosquito population which I am sure you have many of too, it seems anyone east of the Mississippi does. Last but not least, if you do find out they are nesting in your attic, Bat guano is nothing to play with, read “The Einsel House” blog to learn somethings about how to get rid of them and what to do after. We got used to them for years until my dad finally blocked the multitude of them out. Good luck. ( my neighbor would get them through her fireplace flue/ chimney ), we would die laughing as even across their walls and storm windows, the driveway and then our house walls and windows we would hear… TOM ITS A BAT !!!! (SCREAMS, SEVERAL TIMES…) then thump. thump thump until sooner or later someone would dump a bat out the back door.

    1. I’ve considered putting up bat houses around my yard to get rid of pesky bugs, but I’m paranoid about inviting them to invade my yard, then they might think I’ve extended that invite to my house!

  17. I’m a Peds ER doc in South Carolina and if you have a bat exposure (meaning you find a bat in your house), you absolutely MUST have the rabies vaccines.

    The teeth are so tiny you cannot know if you have been bitten.

    You have to get the vaccine (a series of 4 shots essentially + HRIG on the first day, the rabies immunoglobulin to give you immediate immunity).

    My opinion, you must have the shots. Please go tomorrow.

  18. Girl, you need to find out where the darn things are getting in your house from! I used to rent a house that had really BAD fitting screens on the windows and the bats would crawl in then fly around my bedroom spitting on me {well, ok, so I know it wasn’t actually SPIT, but S*IT, but I’m not comfortable with actually saying they were doing that, so I go with SPIT – πŸ™‚ } AND, they’re kind of creepy when you have to pick them up after they’re dead, smooshy. OK – grossed myself out! Hope you find the Bat Tunnel soon so you can sleep!!!

  19. Eeeeeuuuuuuuuwwwwweeeee! Holy….(take your pick!) I am sorry, but it is very difficult to relate as I am living in a completely different climate (and life!). My first response would be to burn the house to the ground and move very far away….like anywhere else! OMG! Then when I was able to breathe again and if I was still having to live there I would plug up every nook and cranny, get the shots, …no no….get the shots first and hire someone to cover every tiny little hole and look up what smell they hate and spray the house and the yard and the car and the porch and then the house again….and then put up a net around the bed and velcro it shut at night….get more shots….and then get that guano out of the attic or wherever…even we non-bat combatants know breathing that stuff can make you very ill! There is DIY and then there is DBB – Don’t Be Dumb! Protect thyself and thy livestock family please….I would hate to lose the comic relief this blog provides! Good Luck!

  20. Human rabies is so ridiculously rare that most doctors have never even seen a case of it. Even if there is a bite, the chance it’s from a rabid animal is so small… A bite isn’t even confirmed and everyone says run for the needle which isn’t without it’s own real dangers. Just wanted to give a little balance to this.

    I hope you can get control of these guys! Sounds like they have taken up residence. And I thought mice were a pain…

    1. It may be true that getting rabies is rare, but surviving rabies is extremely rare. Rabies is considered the most deadly disease on the planet with a mortality rate of almost 100%. It’s nothing to take lightly. And if you don’t get the vaccine soon enough after a bite, you’re screwed (i.e., dead).

  21. Do not want to offend because I am laughing at the moment. Not just at the post but at some of the funny comments – loved ‘bat cave’ and ‘bat juice’ the most. Also have to put it out there that sometimes it is good to live in Australia (as I do):)#norabiesinthiscountry

  22. Actually, here is an infectious diseases medical provider weighing in.. YES, you needs rabies shot. People DO get rabies and YES you can get rabies without a bite. And recently a woman in SC died from rabies, which BTW is 100% fatal. Since it looks like a possibility that you are going to have repeated bat exposure…get the shots.

  23. Too soon to suggest renaming Black Feather Farm to “The Batcave”? πŸ˜‰

    Happy Friday!

  24. I really love to watch bats….when they are NOT in my bedroom at 2am!

    I think everyone has covered any suggestions I had, above.

    Good luck. And from the suggestions from medical people above, looks like you might need to go to the Dr. too.

  25. Poor Kit. I had bats in the attic too. It was terrifying for me. If you are interested, I will try to find the article on how I got rid of them (humanely) It worked and I am now bat free!

  26. You may not feel better tonight, but I feel so much better (after you have gotten the shots). Now I know I can continue to hear about the adventures of Kit and the Black Feather Farm.

  27. Thank you for updating. You and those bats have been a scratch in my brain since you posted. So glad you got the shots. I’m not a worrier but rabies is a disaster.
    Margaret

  28. oh wow. i’m glad you went for the shots. that shit is no joke.

    we’ve had bats in our house. once, the ‘rents had redone the bathroom floor and hadn’t reattached all the base mouldings yet. damn thing crawled down THROUGH THE WALL and out into the bathroom.

    then it flew downstairs.

    and scared the shit out of every single one of us while we were watching TV. the cats were watching it with expressions of “… not sure if food. O.o”

    dad finally caught it with a badminton racket and a pool skimmer up against one of the kitchen windows.

    then, the next night, i was sitting out in the back yard annealing some wire with my new torch, and the damn squeaking thing comes JUMPING TOWARDS ME from behind. i screamed and ran away, scraping the top of my foot on the concrete sidewalk in the process. managed not to drop the torch, though i still have the scar.

    and that’s not the only one we’ve had invade.

    i can’t even adequately describe the hilarity of the other bat-in-house incident.

    it involved a baseball cap, a pool skimmer, a next-door neighbor, and the husband of another neighbor. huddled on the stairs in makeshift battle gear, while the bat flew around in my mom’s bedroom.

  29. I don’t know much about the rabies vaccine; after those five shots do you have to go back for more?

  30. In the event of an exposure to an animal potentially carrying rabies (bats are number 3 in the US after raccoons and skunks), first you get HRIG (Human Rabies Immune Globulin) to give you immediate immunity to the rabies virus). It is dosed 20mg/kg. So if you weigh 300 pounds or 136 kgs, you get a whopping huge dose. Fortunately, Kit does not weigh that much, but she still got 4 shots to get the HRIG.

    Then you get a dose of the Rabies vaccine which consists of 4 shots given on days 0,3,7, and 14.

    So she has 3 more shots.

  31. I am laughing at this myself… mostly because I actually went through the whole thing myself two weeks ago – last rabies booster this week. What a pain, literally!

  32. I’m wondering……now that you’ve had your rabies vaccine are you thinking of getting a flea collar as well?

  33. We used to have an annual bat visits until one was in my bedroom in the middle of the night on my anniversary. I do not do well with flying creatures in dark rooms. We eventually called a local Pest control place….spent $800 and they made little one way exits and sealed up the rest of the house. We also put up two bat houses but most of them probably moved over to our decrepid shed. That was 5 years ago…..If I saw a bat in the house, I’d totally spend the money again. They freak me out and I have kids that probably would sleep through a bat bite…..My grandpa knew someone who died from rabies (from a dog bite) when he was a kid. Not awesome. Bats are amazing creatures….but must live outside!

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