My stupid ass would be reading that sign while opening the door like a chimp they did too many science experiments on
this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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Bats
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Bats are cool
Bats are the only true flying mammals. There are over 1,400 species of bats, and they can be found on nearly every part of the planet. Not only are they cute, they are also important...
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I ask this only with good intentions and as someone who is not super educated on the subject:
Is this a health concern if they startled the bat and risk getting scratched? Would it be better to try to relocate the creature?
I often encounter bats on my front door several times a year and do my best to safely move them, but I’m wondering if I could do better.
Bats are indeed a bit famous for carrying rabies, I think I would have animal control relocate the little guy.
Edit: I'm not at all suggesting that this bat in particular has rabies, or that people should be afraid of bats. What you should be afraid of is rabies, because that's fucking terrifying. Due caution is required.
Fuck rabies, man. Fortunately, a bat won't transmit via scratch. But even The smallest bite or transfer of saliva on an open wound can transmit it. If you encounter a bat and are 100% sure it didn't bite you, it's fine. But if you're only 99% sure, you're in for a world of hurt with the rabies series. That's why people who wake up with a bat in their room have to go through the series.
Bats can carry all sorts of diseases some of which can affect humans like rabies. However most of them don't, and they're protected species anyway so you're not allowed to touch them. If it does have a disease the best thing to do would be to stay as far away from it as possible and hope it goes away on its own. Either way the best advice is not to touch it.
I went spelunking with some friends once, and we were crawling through this section of the cave that was only about 4' tall. There were around 100 bats sleeping on the ceiling above us as we cautiously crawled past. Well, my crazy idiot friend thought it would be hilarious to wake them all up and started screeching like a banshee. All of the bats dropped down from the ceiling and started flying back and forth, inches from our faces. I was thinking that I'd kill my friend if any of us got bitten, but thankfully the bats completely ignored us and eventually flew off to who knows where. That same idiot went back to the cave a couple weeks later and caught one of the bats. We forced him to return it to the cave and release it. He was a fun guy, but prone to unpredictable, dangerous behavior.
Everyone's got that one friend. People get hurt when he's around, but somehow he never does.
His luck ran out when he hit middle age, and he has seriously injured himself a couple of times now.
Anecdotaly, if ever a bat gets into your home and is flying around unable to escape, the easiest way to relocate it safely is to slap it out of the air with a bath towel whip.
In college, my best friend did this to a bat on his first try and it became the stuff of legend. Years later, stay at a hostel with some friends, a bat got into our room and I remembered the towel trick. First try! It was surprisingly intuitive.
I carried the bat (after getting gloves) outside where it lept from my hands and flew to safety.
The more you know!
Whip the bat or the air?
Whipping the bat seems aggressive.
I suspect just the air near the bat, as we both did it on our first try. Bats are small and fast, so the odds of us hitting the bat on the first try is low.
To be fair, in both instances, the bat had gotten into a building and couldn't be shooed back out, so intervention is pretty important to saving its life.
Once it's on the ground, you pretty much have it, as they can't take off from the ground. Mine scampered under a bed very quickly and we had to move the bed to scoop it up and carry it outside.
In both instances, the bat was perfectly fine and flew off safely once outside.
This reminds me, I have to get a bat house or two around my property. FU mosquitos.
shhhh, it’s a teeners