aaaahhhh!!!! rabid attack butterfly!!!!!!! NOT!

[geronimotwo]

woke up last night around 2 am with a strange fluttering sound around my head, and felt something touching my hair.  next my wife is sitting up and freaking a bit.  first thought in my head was that the really large chrysalis i brought home for my daughter had hatched, but then my sleepy brain couldn't figure how it had gotten out of the jar.  so i tell wifey to leave the room and close the door behind her, and i still hear the fluttering after she leaves. turn on the light and finally spy the culprit flitting around the room frantically searching for a way to drive it's fangs into me!  damn, it's a bat.  first thing i think is "where will i get a net".  only thing that comes to mind is the fishing net in the basement.  no good.  next i look around and spy a flannel shirt hanging on the wall.  good enough!  draping it over my arms i try to wrap the bat  in it as he flew by.  damn, that radar was working faster than i was.  wait for him to pass again, this time i am able to knock him down and cover him with the shirt on the wood floor.  time for a breath.  find some sheet music to scoop him up with, and take him outside!  no need to hold the little fella, as no one was bit, right?  wrong!  after relating my story to several people they all are under the impression that i have been exposed to some dreadfull monster. so i call the public health nurse and she confirms that we should all come in and start a rabies series in the morning.  i almost kept the bat just to show my daughters but knew they would want to keep it as a pet.  now my oldest has shown me two puncture marks on her hand about 3/8" apart that she claims were not there when she went to bed.  they don't quite look like bite marks, but who knows.  

we have never had a problem with bats, and have a reasonably tight house.  i walked around the house but didn't see anything that looked suspicious enough to be an entrance.  although we have had mice before, so if they can get in......  coincidentally we did go to a tour cave  (howe caverns) on monday, but they assured us that the bats were only near the natural entrance some 1/2 mile away.  i couldn't imagine accidentally bringing one home with us.

anyone have advice on this?  i'm certainly out of my element.  one website claims that of the 20 rabies deaths from bat exposures since 1990, only one had a known bite!

[Doggy Daddy]

How long before this becomes a "What Caliber For Bat" thread?   

DD

[CNYCacher]

Lesson learned, should have kept him.

you are all going in for rabies series tomorrow, so what is the concern?  you sound covered.

[sanglant]

so, what's life like in a Anne Rice book?

[geronimotwo]

Lesson learned, should have kept him.

you are all going in for rabies series tomorrow, so what is the concern?  you sound covered.

yea, except daddy's scew-up means a series of shots for my 6 and 10yo's.  mommy and i can deal with it.

[RaspberrySurprise]

So you weren't bit and they still want you to do the rabies series? That seems a bit extreme.

[geronimotwo]

so, what's life like in a Anne Rice book?

haven't read the vamp books, but was thinking how strange it was that the bat was near enough to be in my hair while we were sleeping.

So you weren't bit and they still want you to do the rabies series? That seems a bit extreme.

along the lines of what i was thinking,  but i was able to smell it even after releasing it so maybe i was guanoed.  we are going to the ER tomorrow as they are the only ones with the first dose of vaccine (?), maybe they will have more info. 

[RaspberrySurprise]

You can only get rabies from infected saliva, maybe they think you got bat spit on you?

That said, rabies is almost always fatal so perhaps better safe than sorry.

[Stickjockey]

You tagged it in mid-air? You're faster than I am. Ours was finally brought down by our 11-year-old Domestic Shorthair, Max. Sat waiting, and watching. One pass, bat got too low and zap!. Flash of marmalade Tabby, and the bat is on the floor. Wrapped him up in a towel and took him outside, but the damage was done. No one got bitten, though.

[BobR]

When I worked on the rez we would get several bats in the house every year. Each and every one of them was offered the rabies series. Some wanted to turn it down until the risks (a nasty death marked by hydrophobia) were explained. The odds of you actually contracting rabies from that bat just being in the room is fairly remote...but once again, rabies is almost always fatal. I can only think of one, maybe two human survivors of rabies.

BTW, I have read some theories where Edgar Allen Poe was thought to have died from rabies.

The shots are just regular Intramuscular injections. Unless there is a bite there is no need to infiltrate around the wound with Rabies Immune Globulin.

Here is a pretty good flow chart from Iowa on bat exposure and prophylaxis.  http://www.idph.state.ia.us/adper/common/pdf/cade/rabies_exposure_bats.pdf

Sorry you and your family have to go through this, but the inconvenience of the shots do outweigh the possible bad outcomes. It is tough getting little ones to understand that though.

bob

[Boomhauer]

I actually have experience with this. Two bats.

One got in by hitching a ride on the christmas tree. Poor thing was hyperventilating and stuck to the ceiling. My parents did not believe me when I came out of my room and saw it. Dad told me I was full of crap and that I had stuck one of my toys to the ceiling. Hamper with a towel in the bottom scooted along the ceiling got it down and outside.

Other one got in while we was doing siding work and had disturbed a colony living in the siding. Flapped around my sister's room and we finally caught it with a fishing net.

[Ryan in Maine]

I suppose I'm lucky for living so far north in that regard. Rabies isn't a problem up here at the top of Maine.

Also, you reminded me of this this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iloN1RPs4n0

A basketball game was interrupted early in the action. Refs, mascots, and security armed with nets and towels could not stop the interruption. Then, Manu Ginobili, an NBA player on the San Antonio Spurs decided to put an end to the game's interruption himself. The interruption had been spotted intermittently flying around for some time during the 1st quarter before it became bolder and started dive-bombing, scaring many spectators, and more hilariously, scaring some NBA players over 6'6" like little girls. ha ha

(Also, it happened during a game played on Halloween)

Here are some words from Ginobili about the incident (and he did get the rabies shots): http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4618253

[Iain]

Rabies? The UK does have its advantages, the last infection acquired in this country was in 1902.

[Doggy Daddy]

Rabies? The UK does have its advantages, the last infection acquired in this country was in 1902.

Ahh, but you can get shots for rabies.  There's no vaccine for Monarchy.   
(ETA, the last official infection of Monarchy here was in the 1700s.  Though I see signs of a possible outbreak looming.)

DD

[Iain]

Ahh, but you can get shots for rabies.  There's no vaccine for Monarchy.   
(ETA, the last official infection of Monarchy here was in the 1700s.  Though I see signs of a possible outbreak looming.)

DD

We don't have the lethal strain of monarchism, that died out in France. We have the garden (party) variety.

[Doggy Daddy]

We have the garden (party) variety.

"If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang, I rather drive a truck"
-Rick Nelson
 

DD

[Jamisjockey]

.357 loaded with .38 snake shot.  They are freaking tough to nail on the fly with a snubby, though! 

[RaspberrySurprise]

.357 loaded with .38 snake shot.  They are freaking tough to nail on the fly with a snubby, though! 

That's quite the amusing mental picture there.

[geronimotwo]

i suppose .357 snake shot wouldn't have made much of a mess of the sheetrock, but that room (to be called the "bat" room from now on) had fairly new paint!

we are scheduled for our shots this afternoon. the local hospital had to call in some extra vaccine for the four of us.  am worried for the little, as she has had reactions to some meds before.

[StopTheGrays]

we have never had a problem with bats, and have a reasonably tight house.  i walked around the house but didn't see anything that looked suspicious enough to be an entrance.

Bats only need an opening that is as thick as a nickle. They can flatten themselves out and squeeze thru. I know because I rented a house with a bat problem but because it was in the winter I did not know about the bats until the spring/summer.

At night it looked like the edge of the roof was crapping bats. You would see a tip of a wing poke out and then the rest of the bat would slide out. While living there I think I killed 3-4 bats that had gotten into the living areas. I have grown to recognize and dread that chatter they do; sounds like two quarter being rubbed against each other.

I have found a short handled fishing net works best for catching them and a boot heel does the rest.


Good luck.

[Doggy Daddy]

.357 loaded with .38 snake shot.

With that whole sonar thing they got going, you really wouldn't want a subsonic round, wouldya?   

DD

[DonTron]

My parent's log house had bats. You could hear the chirping sound of sonar when they flew around at night, and just barely catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of your eye.

Their dachshund killed a few of them, which was pretty impressive considering his limited reach.

[geronimotwo]

well we did our time in the ER thursday.  the shots go by weight so,  the little got 3 shots (very brave for the first two but then the third finally broke her.) big girl got 4 (through which she stiffened her lip and took it bravely) mama got 5, and i got 7.  i was the only one who had any reaction.  it felt like a touch of hayfever with the runny nose, post nasel drip and a touch of fever. started about an hour after getting the shots and lasted all weekend.  damn.  if i had reallized, that little bat brain would have been on a slide faster than you could ride greased lightening.  today we went back for the first booster (1 shot each).  everyone did very well.  next thursday is the next booster, and then one more a week from that. we should be qualified for journeyman pincushion positions by then.  ouch.  at least it is supposed to keep us rabid-free for 10 years.

[geronimotwo]

finished with the boosters today.  everyone took theirs fine.  i guess we are good for 10 more years of bat attacks!

[vaskidmark]

Did you get the tags for your collar, or just the certificate that you trade in + cash at City Hall?

And remember dog park ettiquette - new guy gets sniffed first, then snifs back.

Glad to hear everybody made it through the ordeal.

stay safe.