Bat's coming in the house

Bats in the house freak me out, not sure why but i guess it's the closed environment where they DON'T BELONG. I've gone fishing on the river quite a bit at night and they swoop all around especially if you are out in the water, if you've never done this they come within feet of you. That's never bothered me but a bat in the house and I show my true "girlie man" side.

Richard S. wrote:Bats in the house freak me out, not sure why but i guess it's the closed environment where they DON'T BELONG. I've gone fishing on the river quite a bit at night and they swoop all around especially if you are out in the water, if you've never done this they come within feet of you. That's never bothered me but a bat in the house and I show my true "girlie man" side.

I guess you wouldn't want to live in this house, then. Old houses have lots of little openings that they can find their way through. Once I had one fly past me while I was walking in the door after dark.

We used to hear odd noises over the LR ceiling. When we had the house remodeled, carpenters took the sheathing off the back wall and saw a 4-foot garter snake living between the 2nd floor stringers. Also found 4-foot skins it had shed, hanging inside the bathroom wall. We left a ladder up over the weekend so it could escape, though it probably had other ways out. Anyhow, once it was gone we had a lot more trouble with mice. A friend opened her kitchen cupboard and was face to face with a weasel. She loved it -- apparently it could get all around through the walls and attic and cellar, took good care of the mice and rats.

We had bats and squirrels in our old house. It was a twin and the neighbor had an opening on the back porch I found out later. Anyway, we had a bat in our bed room on night and the cat was going nuts chasing it . I even had paw prints running up the walls! The bat landed on the ceiling fan which had six speeds. Put it high, and the bat hung on for dear life- then hit the wall, I pinned it with a broom and got rid of it! George

My wife caused this whole thread by telling me a bat might come down the chimney and out through the barometric damper. But tonight I learned there is more than bats to worry about. Took apart my stovepipes to replace the cheap baro with a good one. While it was all apart she pointed out that a crow might sit on the chimney top and fall down into the living room. I was vigilant, and we got through it without birds or other fauna visiting. Whew!

Hey it could happen. I had a couple of starlings try to get out through baro damper the day after the infamous valentine's day storm last year. I guess the bad weather forced them to land on the chimney and next thing I know the cat is going nuts and there is a bird poking its head out of the baro. The good news is the co got it before it could escape and I could then retrieve it out of the bottom of the vent pipe.

Actually I take the bat / baro thing quite seriously, not this time of year but when the stove is shut down for the summer. Bats follow air currents, even very faint ones. We had one come down from the attic, inside the upstairs wall, inside the downstairs wall, and come out a slight gap between baseboard and plaster in the living room. We could hear it in the walls all the way down. That tiny gap allowed enough of a thermo-siphon draft to lead it right to the opening. (I assume that's also the way Batman finds his way out of the Bat Cave when Robin isn't there to drive.)

My wife's aunt in Scotland would open the windows at night, and the bats came and went freely. Of course there's no rabies in the British Isles. Unfortunately there's just enough in the USA that we can't feel safe doing that.

i can't put anything in the center of the barn. bats crap all over it.

Well, my bats are heated with anthracite coal heat! I've got a clay lined masonry block chimney that is pulling away from the gable end of my garage/shop. Just enough space for 8-10 bats to live comfortably. They seem to stay there year round and can be seen in summer evenings dive bombing for food. Drives the cat nuts.