There is a big bat in my apartment

[PhysicsGente]

I'm very scared and I don't know how to get it out. It's flying over the living room and I need to go through there to get out of the apartment. Help please!

 

[jedishrfu]

Sometimes people use a fire extinguisher to spray the bat.

This article seems to use a gentler approach

http://voices.yahoo.com/how-remove-bat-house-quickly-safely-1262215.html

And this one with step by step pictures

http://m.wikihow.com/Catch-a-Bat-in-Your-House

 

[PhizKid]

Turn your fear into a weapon by building a combat suit resembling a bat to fight crime in

 

[PhysicsGente]

Sometimes people use a fire extinguisher to spray the bat.

This article seems to use a gentler approach

http://voices.yahoo.com/how-remove-bat-house-quickly-safely-1262215.html

And this one with step by step pictures

http://m.wikihow.com/Catch-a-Bat-in-Your-House

That seems very simple but my fear is messing with me .

 

[Kholdstare]

Just get a paper and pick it up by hand. That is how I catch every living things that invades my house.

 

[jedishrfu]

Just get a paper and pick it up by hand. That is how I catch every living things that invades my house.

You need leather gloves to do that. The towel approach is better and more humane. Bats can carry rabies. In Austin we've advised never to pick up a bat with your hands because of it.

You could also find cat who'll catch a bat (find a dog who'll eat a dog :-) ) but you may not like the outcome.

 

[WannabeNewton]

Run around in circles screaming until you pass out and the bat flies away in fear of a zombie apocalypse.

 

[Bacle2]

Start a baseball game. Sorry,trying to lighten things up.

When you can, open up all doors, windows you can, if too urgent, open the bathroom door and shut it if it gets in there ( which will lead to another problem; hopefully a smaller one.)

 

[jedishrfu]

Start a baseball game. Sorry,trying to lighten things up.

When you can, open up all doors, windows you can, if too urgent, open the bathroom door and shut it if it gets in there ( which will lead to another problem; hopefully a smaller one.)

and then maybe the whole bat family will join junior.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Turn your fear into a weapon by building a combat suit resembling a bat to fight crime in

Very interesting solution.

 

[Bacle2]

and then maybe the whole bat family will join junior.

Right, I didn't think it thru carefully. Maybe the Baseball game will be a better idea.

 

[Ibix]

Guessing you're in the States so this probably isn't relevant, but in the UK, you ring the RSPCA and they come. Bats are a protected species here, I believe.

 

[Astrum]

Because asking a bunch of people on the internet will solve your problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRR4iYRRBLk

 

[turbo]

In the NE US we only have little brown bats. They are tiny and easy to catch (got a long-handled smelt net or similar?) so I don't know what to do with a large bat. Can you lure it outside? In the absence of food, that bat should be looking for another place to live, though you might have to be flexible about giving the critter access to the outside. Good luck with that situation.

 

[arildno]

Offer it fermented fruit. Afterwards, it will be very easy to get it out

 

[jim hardy]

It probably wants out as much as you want it out.

i'd just open the door.

 

[jedishrfu]

Do you still have Bats in your Belfry or are you completely Bat free?

 

[PhysicsGente]

I just woke up, and it is on the ground right outside my door. I'm going to throw a towel on it and then we'll see.

 

[jim hardy]

Some bats can't take off from the ground.

Try placing it on a shrub or small tree limb so it has room for a good flap of its wings. That's why they hang upside down - takeoff is just spread wings and let go.

 

[lisab]

It probably wants out as much as you want it out.

i'd just open the door.

Exactly what I was going to say. Poor thing, I bet it's terrified.

 

[FlexGunship]

Try to reason with it! First, get a video camera...

Explain to it that you've been living there for a while, and, while you might be open to considering a roommate, this is really not the best way to start off on the right foot. This should at least get it to stop flapping around and listen to you.

If the bat won't leave after that, then it's time to try stronger language and more forceful reasoning. Remind it that it eats bugs and that you don't have any bugs... at all. Nothing in the fridge. Open up the cabinets to show it that you don't have any insects for it to eat at all. (You might have to explain the pepper if you have a transparent peppercorn mill.) If the bat remains reluctant to leave, add this: "even if I had bugs, I've got plenty of spiders already." This might hurt the bat's feelings, but if you've gotten to this point then things aren't going well anyway.

Lastly, if all of the above fails, threaten to call the police. Explain that you've been patient but that this is your home and he's/she's not welcome. This should end the situation. Bat's act tough because of their cultural upbringing, but they really don't want to risk jail time.

When it's all over, upload the video to YouTube and post the link here.

 

[jtbell]

If you have any robins outside your window, they might be able to help you.

 

[AlephZero]

Try to reason with it!

It's hard to reason with a creature whose voice is too high pitched for you to hear it.

 

[fluidistic]

It's hard to reason with a creature whose voice is too high pitched for you to hear it.

I can easily hear bats at night. Of course not their entire "spectrum" of voices but definitely some of it!
I had twice a bat in my house. One was in the kitchen and left by a small window; the kitchen was all dirty afterwards.
The other in my living room (where I had to sleep that night). It stayed there for 2 days until it found out the opened window. At night it would go crazy and I would hide under my blanket until it was calm again and I could chase him with a broom/brush (I don't know the word).

 

[Aero51]

I think you should cook it and eat it for dinner.

 

[jim hardy]

Anything that eats mosquitoes is a friend of mine.
A small bat family has moved in behind a shutter.
They remind me of that Leslie Nielsen Dracula movie.

(picture courtesy of http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/90000/Leslie-Nielsen-Bat--90380.jpg )

 

[Danger]

Some bats can't take off from the ground.

As far as I know, no bats can take off from the ground. The power-to-weight ratio is all wrong. That's why they have those extra claws to climb up things if they get grounded.

If you have any robins outside your window, they might be able to help you.

Jed is correct about the potential rabies risk. I love bats, and very briefly had a pet one until my cat figured out how to unlock the cage, but I have never handled one without leather gloves.
And as Lisab said, it is most assuredly wanting to get the hell away from you and out of the building.

 

[PhysicsGente]

It's finally over. It did actually take off again but ended up trapping itself between the kitchen window and screen. It was easy to let him out from there.

 

[FlexGunship]

It's finally over. It did actually take off again but ended up trapping itself between the kitchen window and screen. It was easy to let him out from there.

Anti-climactic.

Get another bat and try again.

 

[bp_psy]

It's finally over. It did actually take off again but ended up trapping itself between the kitchen window and screen. It was easy to let him out from there.

Big mistake.
That was obviously a vampire's scout that was sent to check out your house.Now he's flying back to his master. You are doomed.

 

[Danger]

You are doomed.

No, scouts don't count. The master still has to be invited into the house before he can enter.

 

[Nikitin]

Keep it. This constant exposure to fear will make you stronger.

 

[jim hardy]

Hmmm ...

Were it trained to sit on your shoulder it'd make a fine accessory for a "Goth" outfit.

Where's that thread on 'stunts to attract girls' ?

 

[Tsu]

My cat, Jack, brings me bats all of the time. I start by turning out all of the lights and opening a door. Then I go to the farthest room from the door and start slowly turning on the lights in each room until you reach the open door room which is my kitchen. Once I turn on the kitchen light, out the door he goes. It's called Bat Herding. I'm also a Skunk Whisperer.

 

[wukunlin]

reminds me of a poor sparrow that flew into my house some years ago, kept slamming its head at a window that no one can reach. When it finally came down it was barely breathing, soon after we discovered it was probably scared to death or from dehydration :(

 

[Tosh5457]

Haha where do you live OP, USA? I wish there were bats where I live, I never saw one. I think little bats don't attack people

 

[lisab]

Haha where do you live OP, USA? I wish there were bats where I live, I never saw one. I think little bats don't attack people

Wow, I thought bats were just about everywhere. Do you live at the South Pole ?

 

[Bacle2]

Haha where do you live OP, USA? I wish there were bats where I live, I never saw one. I think little bats don't attack people

Little bats don't attack people; people with little bats attack people.

 

[DrDu]

Just get a paper and pick it up by hand. That is how I catch every living things that invades my house.

Not a good idea. Never touch it! It could bite you when scared and transmit bat rabies.

 

[Danger]

reminds me of a poor sparrow that flew into my house some years ago, kept slamming its head at a window that no one can reach.

Same problem from the inside as from the outside; birds can't see glass. To them, it's open space or in some cases a reflection of what's on the same side as themselves. I'm not sure why, since they have such incredible visual acuity, but it might have to do with their sensitivity extending into UV or perhaps something about polarization.

 

[OCR]

Same problem from the outside; birds can't see glass. To them, it's open space or in some cases a reflection

Yeah, my wife and I were talking about that very problem yesterday... right after a little bird

thunked our living room picture window. It's a BIG window, too.

She's done considerable research on birds hitting windows and the consensus is... reflection, mostly.

The solution seems to be an outside screen , or fine netting of some kind... diminishes the reflection,

and provides some impact cushioning if they do hit.OCR

 

[PhysicsGente]

Haha where do you live OP, USA? I wish there were bats where I live, I never saw one. I think little bats don't attack people

Be careful what you wish for.
I'm currently living in the US, somewhere in Virginia.

Keep it. This constant exposure to fear will make you stronger.

Not really. It was here for two days and now I'm traumatized for life.

 

[Danger]

The solution seems to be an outside screen , or fine netting of some kind... diminishes the reflection,

and provides some impact cushioning if they do hit.

That sounds like a really good idea. Implementation, however, might prove problematic. It wouldn't be either hard or expensive to do, but convincing people won't be easy. It did bring a minor idea to my mind, though; perhaps some sort of fast-scanning laser sweeping windows to make the glass visible to birds without the light being annoying to humans.
I really like the nylon net idea, but it would be a big problem for high-rises or even my two-story house with 40 windows.