Gone Batty!?!

 Bats?!?

Holy Batcave, Batman, I believe we do !

We live in a rural setting. We have to deal with "critters" from time-to-time...Like Snakes! and Bats!

I hear you people shouting for the animals' rights out there...and this post is not for you so be warned. At our house we don't like snakes. The only good snake is a dead snake around here. AND when one decides to get in the house he is a gonner...sorry...no catch and release going on around here. AND the 2 snakes that have showed up in my grandmother's apartment downstairs have been copperheads anyway. YIKES!

A couple of years ago, when Zach was still in HIGH School, and Karlie had a friend over to spend the night...we had our first encounter with a bat. Zach had gone on to bed and had shut and locked his door...when all of the sudden he started screaming in a panic...Come to find out a bat was in the room with him and was darting at him. His dad, trying  to get the door unlocked said, Keep the cover over your head, son...and in a paniced voice that son said...don't worry dad!

Anyway the bat was killed with a broom and my hubby threw it outside. Knowing that they carry rabies..I said you better go get it out of the yard so that the cat doesn't get it...and what if had rabies? So he went and got it out of the yard...it was raining...and put it in a ziplock bag....and then put it in the freezer. Later Zach tells us that the night before something had been in his room the night before but he couldn't figure it out and  it would flap around and go in the vent above his bed! THEN being the mom I am I research about bats on line. I expect to read that their bite is like a vampire bite...nope it can be little scratches like razor marks...WELL..he had some unexplained scratches on his foot. AND he sleeps with his feet out. We call animal control who can't come till daylight, and when they do they say they can't test our bat because we froze it instead of refrigerating it. NOTE TO SELF: place your dead bat in the fridge next to the milk so that it can be tested correctly for rabies. WE take the boy to the doc. AND the doc says, we have to assume that the bat was rabid especially since it was in the house darting at him and basically acting uncharacteristic of bat behavior. SO we were sent to the ER to receive YOU know it! THE RABIES SHOTS....we get there and the doc on duty said there was a shortage and that it was not up to our doctor if he received the vaccinations or not...he put in a call to the CDC...so I said it's now up to the government if my son receives treatment? HE was a real smarty pants doctor and he totally lost all respect. WELL, the cdc called and said yes, he was a candidate for the shots. SO he had to receive the dreaded shots and certain intervals over period of weeks... the first shot had to go into the bite sight which was the foot. After finally getting all the shots we threatened to get him the rabies dog tag to wear...

Needless to say...we don't want any bats around here. I know they eat up the insects and all that, but they can do what GOD made them to do without being in my attic or attached to the screen vent above my garage where they were depositing  you know what right in front of the garage. AND From what I hear...their deposits are dangerous too. 

AND That's how we found out that they we were there... we saw an enormous amount of you know what in front of the garage...so karl goes upstairs..pulls down the attic stairs and goes...he comes back down and said there's about 12 attached on the outside...and I see some tears in the screen. He gets some screen and  a staple gun and waits till its dark and hopefully they are all gone. Most had left on their evening hunt, but some stayed...so while he is stapling new screen behind the original screen, he sees bats turning their heads and  hissing at him...GEE! I don't think I could handled it.

THEN he searched the attic to see if any had made it in and sure enough he found one roosting in the top. He sent Shek downstairs for the BB gun. Shek couldn't reach it so I had to get it down. I didn't think this was going to be good...a bb gun?

So I go up there and hand the gun up and THEN HE SAYS, SHut the attic door..I said you want me to shut you up in there with it...he said YEP...WELL, I sure didn't know how I felt about it. I said why don't you get a real gun and he being the wise one said..yeah and shoot a hole through the roof? Well, I said at least it would be dead!

HE shot it with the bb gun...then it swooped him, then it lighted some where else where he shot it again, then it landed on the floor and he shot is several more times to make sure it was dead.

I know bats have their place in the world...but it's not in my house...darting at my family...and causing rabies shots...We don't want that again..

SO BATS! BE GONE!