So I am sitting at the bar....

[TheSpecialist]

and the wife calls and says there is a bat in the house. So I go home, with a bottle of wine, and an 18 pack, walk in the house grab a broom, walk through the house and no bat anywhere. My wife came out of the bedroom and says, did you see it, I say no. Then she says there it is, so I big Papi it, and put it in a coffee can. Now because my daughter was in the kitchen in her high chair while watching a show while my wife was running groceries in, I may have to take her into childrens, waiting on a call back fromthe nurse. The bat is in a ziploc in the spare fridge in the garage, and off to the DPH to be tested.

[spence]

Huh? Just because it's in the house?

There was no contact? How old is the daughter?

-spence

[TheSpecialist]

My daughter is 2 1/2, and when she is watching one of her shows on tv she is zoned in on it, and nothing else. I asked her if she saw the " birdie flying around the house" , she said no, but you never know with kids. It's very hard to tell a bat bite, sometimes they leave no sign. The doc's are saying better to be safe than sorry. There is a case study where a woman was awakened by a bat flying around her house. The bat was killed and buried in the yard. They baby was checked, and there was no visible 'bat wounds. The baby died a month later, so the bat was dug up and tested, sure enough it had rabies. As of right now, the bat is going to Dept of Health in Jamaica PLain, this is there infectious isease lab, for testing, and my daughter can supposedly wait till the bat is tested before needing shots.

[Raven]

wow ! on the rabies bite stuff...
i thought only vampire bats were prone to biting humans

i am going to increase my bat population by ten times...
i am going to grow bats...
between layers of hanging carpet
and harvest the guano...
i have a few dozen in the barn....
right over (18 inches up) head squeaking at you
i'm going batty you might say
they are quite bold and fly at shoulder height
grabbing mosquito's trying to bite you
i wonder how it got in your house....?
in the first place....

[fishbones]

i wonder how it got in your house....?
in the first place....[/QUOTE]


Bats can fit through an opening the size of a pencil. When I replaced the rake boards on my house, there were some under the trim in very small spaces. They are usually harmless, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If it was my child, I would have had him at the hospital right away, too. My kid has so many cuts, scrapes and bruises, that finding a bite would be like finding a needle in a haystack. I have some bat house in the trees in my yard to keep the mosquito population down. I heard they can eat thousands of mosquitos a night. Good luck with your daughter. I hope she wasn't bitten or scratched by the bat.

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by TheSpecialist

The doc's are saying better to be safe than sorry.

Absolutely, you can't fool around with stuff like that.

[Sluggoslinger]

Originally Posted by Raven

wow ! on the rabies bite stuff...
i thought only vampire bats were prone to biting humans

i am going to increase my bat population by ten times...
i am going to grow bats...
between layers of hanging carpet
and harvest the guano...
i have a few dozen in the barn....
right over (18 inches up) head squeaking at you
i'm going batty you might say
they are quite bold and fly at shoulder height
grabbing mosquito's trying to bite you
i wonder how it got in your house....?
in the first place....

Guano... that is some great fertilizer when you grow your organic sticky icky. Not that i ever had anything to do with that

[MakoMike]

Rabies is nothing to fool around with. There is no cure. If you get it you die!

[fishpoopoo]

yup. silver haired bats scare the crap out of me ... not because they are ugly but they are rabies vectors. better safe than sorry - it's an ugly slow way to die.

[EarnedStripes44]

A woman killed a rabid raccoon with her bare hands after it attacked a toddler on the south shore. They are both undergoing treatment.

[Raven]

Originally Posted by fishbones

i wonder how it got in your house....?
in the first place....

I heard they can eat thousands of mosquitos a night. Good luck with your daughter. I hope she wasn't bitten or scratched by the bat.[/quote]

well they eat their own weight every night... and now adays mosquitos are known to carry many diseases .....so to be perfectly honest i trust a healthy bat over a mosquito any day

[gone fishin]

They can enter various ways. One is if the flashing around your chimney is loose, they squeeze in and roost on the rafters. Another is the end gables venting system. When installing the rake boards a space is left and they can work inside through cracks. I have had them in my office in the basement. They came in around the chinimey and fell down to the basement. It feels weired when you are working at a drawing board and one whizzes by your neck. I usually shut off the lights and open the door. I go outside and watch for them to find their way out. If that doesn't work a tennis raquet is the weapon of choice. They have trouble avoiding it as their echo penetrates and they fly right into it. Nasty looking critters!

[basswipe]

One of the biggest wive's tails going is that many bats carry rabies.The fact is that very few if any bats carries rabies.Why?They fly.When is the last time you saw a rabid animal jump up snag a bat,bite it and then the bat survives and flies away.The only bat of the several hundred species that has contact with other mammals is the vampire and it doesn't exist in the northern hemisphere.

Bats are probably the most beneficial of all mammals on the planet.Try finding a mosquito in southern TX when the freetails are there,which is all Summer long.

[Raven]

you da man !!!

[Raven]

Originally Posted by EarnedStripes44

A woman killed a rabid raccoon with her bare hands after it attacked a toddler on the south shore. They are both undergoing treatment.

for every one strange story like this....of a single rabid racoon that went ape%$%$%$%$...

probably 2000- 5000 racoons get run down, run over on purpose because the driver steers towards them instead of avoiding them chuckling to his buddies 2 points (bump bump) for the rabid racoon... and mind you i'm not against killing them either because they are or can be a real nuisance and pest
especially when it comes to hen houses or other gamebird enclosures.

i just think the news sensationalizes the story a bit and increases the hysteria and or paranoia times ten.

[Newboater]

Yupper - bats are nasty. This one was flying around my computer room.

Lee

[fishbones]

Originally Posted by Newboater

Yupper - bats are nasty. This one was flying around my computer room.

Lee

Rats with wings.

[FishermanTim]

Now this may be a reach, but If rabies were able to be carried from animal to animal by insect bites. (Think: How do animals initially contact rabies? I know it will be passed from animal to animal, probably from shared food, but it has to start somewhere!)
If mosquitos or ticks were ale to transmit the disease, then bats could contract it.
I'm just thinking out loud.

[MakoMike]

Bats get rabies from other bats. How the first one got it is like the chicken and egg question.

[fishaholic18]

How did you make out Bill? Hope all is good.

[TheSpecialist]

Well the bat got dropped off yesterday morning. My daughters pediatrician told my wife to take the baby to the ER, and start the treatments just in case. While my wife was waiting in the ER, the state called to say the bat was not rabid, so she did'nt have to get the shots. All is well, thanks.

As Mako Mike said bats get rabies from other bats, silver haired bats are the ones most typically id'd to spread i, but any bat could have it. To those who have never seen a bat on the ground, wait till mating season, bats don't fly well stuck together.....

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by FishermanTim

Now this may be a reach, but If rabies were able to be carried from animal to animal by insect bites. (Think: How do animals initially contact rabies? I know it will be passed from animal to animal, probably from shared food, but it has to start somewhere!)
If mosquitos or ticks were ale to transmit the disease, then bats could contract it.
I'm just thinking out loud.

Only mammals can contract rabies, and only from the saliva of an infected animal.

[Raven]

BATS AND RABIES
As with most mammals, including dogs and cats, bats can carry the rabies virus, but it is estimated that the number is less than one percent. Rabid bats are rarely aggressive toward humans and usually die shortly after becoming infected. According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, there has never been a confirmed case of bat-transmitted rabies in the state.

[Squid kids Dad]

Whatever... They are still scary looking...

[eastendlu]

Originally Posted by Squid kids Dad

Whatever... They are still scary looking...

So is my wife without makeup. Sometimes i could swear she is rabid.LOL

[Squid kids Dad]

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by Raven

BATS AND RABIES
As with most mammals, including dogs and cats, bats can carry the rabies virus, but it is estimated that the number is less than one percent. Rabid bats are rarely aggressive toward humans and usually die shortly after becoming infected. According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, there has never been a confirmed case of bat-transmitted rabies in the state.

Exactly.

It can't be stressed enough how beneficial bats are to the environment.Think about this:if everyone had a bat house with a dozen bats in their backyard there would little to no 'squitos which translates to no EEE,West Nile etc.

According to the CDC most rabies cases in the US are caused by bats but not from being attacked so to speak but because the person infected handled the infected bat.At the same time according to the CDC bats have the smallest percentage of rabies of any mammal.
Simply put...don't touch the bat and you won't get rabies.

Btw bats are not rodents.No relation to rats,squirrels or bunnies.

[UserRemoved1]

I know where there is about 100 of them. I watch them go to roost almost every day. What a mess they make with the guano. No bugs though.