my Bat experience today...im scarred for life

[huggytree]

Im working on a horribly run down duplex from the 1910's

i was reaching into a corner of the joist between the 1st and 2nd floors...clearing out wood pieces so i could run my new drain pipe down

all the sudden i hear a noise which sounds like electricity arcing....i assume there's some loose wired and quickly pull my hand out and look.....suddenly a BAT comes out and gets tangled in my flannel work jacket......im up on a ladder trying to unzip my jacket while yelling and freaking out....i get down, open the jacket and swat it off me.....i think my arms are waving all around me as i run circles around the room.....i wasnt sure where it went and if it was off me or not....then i saw it on the floor and i stepped on it.

i didnt get bit, so im lucky.......i had an adrenalin high for 1 hour afterwards......i saw a dead bat on the duplex i was working on next door, so i guess they are in all the old houses around this neighborhood....they are all run down, so there's probably lots of gaps they can get into.

before i went back into digging into the joist space i got my flash light and looked REAL good....

i dont think i will ever be able to reach into a tight/dark space anymore w/o my flashlight first.....im scarred for life!...ill take working with poop any day over a bat in my jacket

[lucas.bowser]

I had something similar when I was replacing a strainer basket and p-trap in one of my duplexes several years back, only replace bat with rat. Well, really a mouse, but it ran down my shirt. I stripped it off in the middle of my tenant's kitchen screaming like a little girl. All the while she was busting up laughing as she watched from her living room couch. That is one day I never want to relive.

[KristineS]

I'm not fond of bats, so I'm sure I would have been traumatized had one flown out a hole at me. Not fond of mice or snakes either.

[HolliAnn]

Oh, no! LOL I shouldn't laugh but the image of someone flailing around is a little amusing. In all seriousness, I'm really glad that you weren't bitten or anything. I'm always afraid of being in dark spaces that I'm unfamiliar with for that very reason..you just never know what kinds of critters you'll encounter.

[cbscreative]

You know the expression about how you will look back on this and laugh. It's true. You might as well start laughing now since it will be funny someday anyway.

Thanks to you guys, I won't be reaching into any dark places without a bit of apprehension first though.

[Harold Mansfield]

Huggy, I'm glad that you are OK and didn't fall off of that ladder and break something, but the vision of you flapping your jacket trying to get rid of a bat is akin to a lot of slapstick and prop comedy that I've seen over the years. Specifically, an Abbot and Costello movie or two.

Never had a close encounter with a bat, but every night in early spring on the Las Vegas strip, millions of moths attract to the big light beam shooting out of the top of the Luxor Hotel. It's a frantic flurry of insects throughout the beam as high as the eye can see. And every night, bats circle, reflecting in the light beam, slowly and gracefully feeding on the moths.

From a distance, it looks like silvery UFO's flying though the light. It's actually pretty cool. But it makes you appreciate the food chain and the amount of (what we consider ) pests that bats are responsible for keeping at bay so they don't get out of control.

I know that's no comfort to you after such an experience, but we do need them. Or you'd be up to your neck in moths and flying insects.
That bat may have saved you from disturbing a nest of something even more creepy. And a lot of them.

[huggytree]

if it was on camera im POSITIVE it would easily make America's Funniest Video's....

i think i circled the room waving my hands at least 3x.....the noises i made only lasted 1x around though

shocking i didnt fall off the ladder..

tomorrow i go to another BAT job....when i went to bid i helped the homeowner scrape them off the ceiling into a box...they were hibernating, so they just dropped off.....i will be looking for them tomorrow before i reach my hands into a dark space

[billbenson]

Huggy, I'm glad that you are OK and didn't fall off of that ladder and break something, but the vision of you flapping your jacket trying to get rid of a bat is akin to a lot of slapstick and prop comedy that I've seen over the years. Specifically, an Abbot and Costello movie or two.

Never had a close encounter with a bat, but every night in early spring on the Las Vegas strip, millions of moths attract to the big light beam shooting out of the top of the Luxor Hotel. It's a frantic flurry of insects throughout the beam as high as the eye can see. And every night, bats circle, reflecting in the light beam, slowly and gracefully feeding on the moths.

From a distance, it looks like silvery UFO's flying though the light. It's actually pretty cool. But it makes you appreciate the food chain and the amount of (what we consider ) pests that bats are responsible for keeping at bay so they don't get out of control.

I know that's no comfort to you after such an experience, but we do need them. Or you'd be up to your neck in moths and flying insects.
That bat may have saved you from disturbing a nest of something even more creepy. And a lot of them.

Actually, in some rural areas people put up bat houses. Some friends in the Los Gatos hills above San Jose CA did that because it dramatically reduces the insect population.

@Huggy - I'd like to see that video

[cbscreative]

@Huggy - I'd like to see that video

Me too. You might even win the $10k.

[Watchdog]

The bat story is great.
Having spent the better part of my career in the HVAC industry I never heard of bat attacks. Hidden bee hives or cockroaches was enough.