Comments:

Stefani - 2006-08-19 10:11:13
Unfair or not, I think you're doing the right thing in biting the bullet and calling in a professional. We had a bird stuck in our chimney recently (gas fireplace). It was in an unreachable spot from up or down. I think the Critter Control guy felt worse than we did that he couldn't get it. Professional pride, I suppose. We paid him for his time obviously. I know it's not the same ongoing problem you're having, I'm just comiserating with you that this is just how it goes sometimes. Love nature. Just not in the house.
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Bozoette Mary - 2006-08-19 10:13:36
Yes, definitely get it done before the bats decide that your house is the perfect place to have babies! AHGGG!
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Stephanie - 2006-08-19 10:20:42
Yes, Stefani, nature should definitely stay OUTDOORS! Too late, Mary. The bats have already decided that my house is the perfect place to have babies, and those babies have been born!
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Carol - 2006-08-19 10:26:49
I had to laugh at you laundry basket hat. But if I had a bat in my house, I would freak. I don't think I could stay in my house at all. I once had to go through a gauntlet of bats on an early morning trying to get to my car. There must have 100 of them swooping down at me. I guess there must have a feeding freenzing of bugs going on. I no longer live in that place. I sure hope there is a solution for the problem.
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Bex - 2006-08-19 10:35:39
I think drastic situations take drastic measures... he next time someone knicks themselves with a paring knife, put a band-aid on it...call the Health Dept. and report a bat attach on your finger! God! They must be insane not to help you!
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Jane - 2006-08-19 11:45:39
When we had skunks living under our porch and digging a BURROW under our patio, the Animal Control people were like, ho hum, we don't handle anything but domestic animals, call a pest service. The pest service came out and trapped ONE skunk to the tune of like $200. There were five other ones still hanging around, and we did the math and said, um..NO. But our house stunk to high heaven. We tried mothballs, and all that bullshit, and nothing worked. Finally, my husband ran a hose into all the spaces they were in to flush them out, and then poured concrete in every conceivable hiding place and they never came back. That's what I'd do...find every single crevice, hole, crack and opening where they could possibly come in cover it. Yeah. That'll be easy. :( You have my sympathy.
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LA - 2006-08-19 12:12:42
Okay, first of all unless you have an active cricket population in your hair the bats aren't interested in your head. Bats usually get in through holes in the eaves around the gutter mounts. They also come in through dryer vents and gaps around window frames, esp if you have old fashioned weighted sash windows. Check your closets for old heat pipes and vent holes that go through to the attic or outdoors. Patch any gaps you find with window screening and duct tape. (Using screws and nails will make holes where bugs and water will get in. Way worse than bats.) Dump any standing water outside including bird baths to cut back any mass mosquito hatchings (bat buffets). If you can bear to, hang a few bird houses near the far edge of your property. Remove the bottoms of the bird houses and drive a few nails on the inside to make perches for the bats to hang from while they sleep. The idea is to make a comfy place for the bats besides your house. The risk of contracting rabies from a bat is lower than the odds of Osama bin Laden asking you to be his date to the Terrorists Ball. Truly. If you get another bat invasion call me, cheerful bat removal for the price of a cup of coffee. Okay? Love, ~Mother Nature
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LA - 2006-08-19 12:44:36
Also, get some of those plug-in sonic pest thingies. They're designed for bugs and mice, but they work on bats and squirrels too. You can get them at any Walmart or Home Depot. Bite the bullet and plug a couple of them in the attic (if there's power up there). I can almost guarantee the 'bats' in your walls are mice. It's getting on time for them to move indoors and they are noisy little buggers during their move-in process. Squeaking, scrabbling, rustling around all bloody night. A couple mice fighting for turf make more noise than elephants. The sonic thingies will drive them out too so it's a win-win. Good luck, sweetie. ~LA
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Kim - 2006-08-19 13:03:36
Arrrgh, you must be crazy frustrated. When I lived in Arlington (a city with a sizable urban wildlife poplulation) the newspaper used to publish Animal Control's activities each week. Half of their calls would be removal of bats, possums and racoons from people's houses, basements, etc. LA's advice sounds pretty good. I like bats, though would prefer that they not be in the house. I'm surprised that Ellie hasn't gone all predatory and sniffed them out.
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Sunshyn - 2006-08-19 14:22:17
I like the paring knife idea a LOT. And LA has some very good advice, also. You just need to figure out where they're getting in so they can't get in anymore. Here in Sacramento our bats are starving. Baby bats are falling off their perches on the bottom of a bridge because there aren't enough bugs for them to eat, and they're too weak to get up and fly back up. The adult bats are getting what little food there is. The county is PAYING for bat rehab. It's like $300 a bat. Meanwhile, they are killing mosquitoes because of West Nile disease, which is killing folks out here. Crazy world.
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Michael - 2006-08-19 15:04:33
Bats are very cool, but in the house? Not so much. I've spent nights sleeping on top of the houseboat under the stars with bats flying back and forth over my head, but I was never bothered by it until one landed on someone's sleeping bag. That's unnerving, and I can't imagine how I'd react if they were making themselves at home in my bedroom. (Well, I can imagine, I guess. I'd run shrieking out of the room and shut the door behind me.) Good luck with removing them. You can't be getting much sleep while they're still around.
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debbie - 2006-08-19 20:37:05
thats probably just dapoet rustling. you better move & move quick ! i know, so not funny. neither was that story except for the imagination running amok a little but who could blame you for that part, i'd run amuck, too. what a scary story ! last night was almost that spooky here, there was an enormous spider in the kitchen. it was hiding by the cats food. i was squeaking & squawking like a sissygirl. the cats heard my howls & freaked. so did john, when he got home & saw the spider. i warned him it was huge & when he saw it even he yelped. oooh, shiver me timbers on it all. which would we rather have, the critters or dapoet ? ooh, what a selection. run, run for your life !!!!
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Jim - 2006-08-19 23:51:20
Everything LA said in her two entries here was spot on based on my experience with bats in my previous house -- except that the noises in the wall may be mice but could actually also be from the bats -- at least when we had a runaway hampster in our walls he made different sounds than the bats had (and yes, we did smash a hole in the wall to rescue the hamster, he was a pet). Look for possible opening -- bats can squeeze through amazingly tiny openings -- and close them off as LA said and also give serious consideration to what she said about sonic noise generators (you can use a radio set to a loud rap station but the special sonic noise generators are probably more effective and less annoying to you than rap music 24/7).
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Texas Peach - 2006-08-20 23:31:29
I was laughing at the laundry basket hat...but I knoew how you felt. When I lived in NJ and had cats..they were forever bringing birds into the house. I'd come in from work and when I'd open the front door...ZOOM..one would fly by my head trying to get out. Not quite the same thing as a bat..but freaky nontheless. We had a problem about 3 years ago with racoons getting into our attic. Scott checked and he couldn't see anywhere big enough for that sucker to get in (it was HUGE). We too had a chimney cap. I could hear it up there thumping around..and I know it had babies cause we could hear them too. By the time we figured out what we were hearing..they left. The next winter I saw it climbing the post out on the patio again..and Scott called around about trapping it...the guy at the wild animal place said to spray wolf (or was it bear?) urine around the posts to the patio and it would deter her (if she hadn't already given birth. I guess she hadn't cause she never came back. This past winter we never saw anything os she either died or moved elsewhere. I'm not sure if there is anything similar for deterring bats..but I sure hope you can get rid of them without it costing you a fortune. LA's ideas sound pretty cheap and hopefully will work for you.
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Sunshyn - 2006-08-21 14:17:32
Instead of a laundry basket, y'all might wear scarves, including to sleep in. Just a thought.
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mz. em - 2006-08-24 21:41:07
I remember having a bat in our bedroom when I was a kid. Seems like mother called a man friend and he got it out of the house and checked the attic which is where it came in from. Other than that, I love the song by Meat Loaf.
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