I live sort of out in the country. I have about an acre of woods across the street from my house that I own. I’m a campfire kind of guy, love to sit by the fire, drink beer, listen to some music. Last year I noticed a total absence of bats as I was sitting by the fire. I know bats are facing some problems, I forget what it is exactly but there is some kind of disease that is killing a lot of them off.
Right now I’m sitting by a nice fire, beer in hand and there are a flock of bats feasting on the bugs drawn by my fire! Go, you mosquito eating machines! Really, this has made my day!
White-nose Syndrome http://www.batcon.org/index.php/our-work/regions/usa-canada/address-serious-threats/wns-intro
One of the local caves was closed to visitors for about 2 years due to that fungus but is back open now.
Mistermage was saying something about thinking there were bats in the siding near the roof today. But I think what he was hearing was a couple of the Baltimore Orioles who wanted us to go inside so they could feast on their jelly.
A lot of people don’t like spiders. I spent many summer days and nights in my grandparent’s cottage on Lake Erie pretty much since I was born, where indoor spiders were just a fact of life. I’ve never owned pet tarantulas or anything, but I’m very much a “live and let live” kind of guy when it comes to spiders. Occasionally I would wake up with a trail of spider bites somewhere on my body, but it was infrequent and I always figured that meant the spiders had done such a good job of killing insects that they just didn’t have another option. We all gotta eat, right?
Intellectually, I can appreciate the same quality in bats. I think they’re cool looking animals and ultimately good for humans as they control pest insect populations. Emotionally, bats are the only animal that I’m aware of that triggers an instinctive fear response in me. Don’t get me wrong, if I’m out in the woods and I see a bear or a wolf or a panther, I’m probably going to be scared shitless (hasn’t happened yet). But for me, none of those things trigger an innate fear response like seeing a flying bat. I don’t mind seeing them chilling in a cave, hanging from the ceiling, but flying bats creep me right the fuck out.
About fifteen years ago, I lived in a very small apartment and a bat got in and was flapping all around. I didn’t scream like a 12 year old girl might, but I really wanted to. My heart was racing and I was terrified of this tiny little bat that probably weighed about four ounces. I finally got up the courage to chase it down with a kitchen broom and in an adrenaline fueled state, managed to bash my chin by jamming the butt end of the broom into my own face. I finally disabled the bat and grabbed it with a towel to deposit it on the front lawn. I’m not exaggerating the adrenaline experience. I was amped up for hours afterwards. Over a four ounce bat.
Theoretically, I have no problem with bats. In reality, they scare the shit out of me and I do not like being around flying bats at all. Spiders, snakes, lizards, no problem. I try to get in at least 10-20 dives per year. Eels, rays, sharks, no problem. One tiny flying bat gets my heart rate up to eleven.
Enjoy your bats, but I don’t want any of them flying around in my general vicinity.
um, if you wake up and find a bat in your room/house, the experts strongly advise you to go get rabies shots in case it bit you while you were sleeping. That’s the number one cause of death by rabies in the US right now- bats biting people in their sleep.
So you DO have a rationale reason for not liking them in your house. Outside, though, they are pretty cool. I can hear some of their sonar noises.
So what, the number one cause of death by rabies for the one or two people a year in the US who die from rabies is bat bites in their sleep? Watch me as I lose no sleep over the danger.
That’s a little exaggerated. It’s apparently happened, but the #1 case of rabies transmission via bat seems to be by handling them. At any rate we’re talking about a very, very low risk rate - less than 3 cases a year on average for the entire country. Odds are good not only will you never get rabies, but that you’ll never know anyone who knew anyone who got it either.
We had a bat flying around a light at night and was eating bugs like crazy but I haven’t seen the bats in a long time now . 
There some damn ad on TV for pest control and it show if jackass kicking pests away with foot and one is a bat ! I hate that damn ad! Bats are not pests ! They’re cool!
Not when they live in your attic and shit all over the place.
true enough and it’s not something to worry about but if you wake up and find a bat in your room it’s probably a good idea to head over to the clinic for a rabies shot. If a raccoon bites you I suggest the same. Rabies isn’t something to mess around with and the only reason you don’t know anyone who got it is because of vaccines against it. It’s a really bad way to go out.
I don’t know how reliable this advice is but I’ve heard that if a bat is flying around, in your house or outside it probably doesn’t have rabies. The time to worry is when they are on the ground and acting sick.