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Tuesday, Aug. 02, 2005 - 8:54 p.m. I think I forgot to pass this vital bit of info on to you� In early June, our neighbor two house to the east finally got around to fixing his roof. The shingles have been crumbling on the structure since around the time we bought our house 10 years ago. Since the wood was also rotting away, he had to remove everything down to the rafters before he could put shingles up. The day he and a couple of his friends pulled the first of the old wood from the edges, he let everyone in the neighborhood know (loudly) that HE HAD BATS! TONS OF THEM ! LIVING IN HIS ATTIC! Uh-oh. They scattered, and they went back to their task. By nightfall, the new wood was up. The bats had lost their home. Not good. If you have been here before, you know that we have had a few bats make it inside of our home over the last 7 or so years. Each was dispatched with quickly (3 total- and remember the old �Roach Motel� commercials? In our case- �The bats check in, but they don�t check out�). Each caused a sudden rush of adrenalin, and a short , one-sided battle to the death. Last summer, one unfortunate flying mouse made it into our basement via the clothes dryer�s vent line. It was covered with lint, lying on the basement floor, when I made the mistake of nudging it with my toe one morning. That was the last I had seen of interior bats. Until the new wood was nailed to the neighbor�s roof, that is. Since then? One was flying back and forth in the basement when Codeman went down for a shower back in June. He succumbed to the tennis racket. Number two? That one was resting in the kitchen one night around 1 am. I went down for a drink of milk for my upset stomach, and he instantly took flight, nearly smacking into my head. He went down into the basement, and I went for my trusty racket. After 1 � hours of fruitless searching, I gave up and went to bed. I figured he had found a way back out, and was long gone. Found him about 3 weeks later, dead in the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket in the basement. How do I know it was the same bat? Both wore the number 17 on their uniforms, of course ;) I�m pretty sure it was the same one, anyway� Number 3? This one was the worst of them all. After taking the boys outside around 10 pm one Saturday night, I opened the back door and started walking up the stairs. He was sitting on a small pile of laundry (Lease had stopped going into the basement without an escort from me by this time), and when I walked inside he tried to leave the house by flying THROUGH BY FACE! ARRRGGGHHHH! Luckly for me, he swerved at the last second and resumed his reckless flying. Since he couldn�t leave through the way he came in (the back door), he headed down to the basement (renamed the �Bat Cave� by me by this time). I had a tennis racket in the upstairs and the kitchen now, so Itook the closest one down with me. It took me a few minutes to find him. He was resting on the floor by the pool table, making weird gestures with his mouth. Fearing rabies, I took him out with one backhand. After that, I replaced the back door�s screen (a tiny tear at the bottom might have been their entry point). We have become much more conscience of opening and closing any door quickly from dusk �til dawn. The inside of the house stayed bat-free until about 10 days ago. Then� Number 4. Codeman had mowed the lawn late on Saturday the day before he was to leave for his yearly camping trip. That was the weekend I injured my quadriceps muscle, so I couldn�t mow the hillside. Codeman agreed to do it for me, but ran late and had to do it as the sun set. He came inside while I was taking my shower. It was almost dark outside, and he must have taken just a little too long coming in. He didn�t notice #4. I did, as I walked up the stairs. He was lying face down on a small rug by the back door, and also seemed to be struggling to get up. One steel toed boot later, no more #4 I also found a dieing bat laying on a planter by this same back door a couple of weeks ago. They seem to get really disoriented by bright light, but their behavior in several of these cases made me think there was more that that wrong with them. Bats rarely have rabies, but they are still the number 1 carrier of this fatal disease in the country. So, no, I am not taking any chances with these creatures once they enter my home. The neighbor living between our two house hasn�t had any inside of his house, but he said for the first few days after the roof went on, he had dieing bats flopping on his driveway every morning as he left for work. He kept a long handled flat shovel by the door, and took care of each one as he found them.
There is nothing I can do with them right now. Nobody will climb a two-story ladder to seal the openings when the possibility of 20 or more bats flying out at them as they work. And sealing them up in the holes would be a BIG mistake- if you have ever caught the aroma that one dead mouse makes inside of a house, you know I wouldn�t want that to happen to that many bats. Those that know me know I have no problem with bats- I even have a �bat house� mounted on the house near the chimney (they have never used it, though- the attic must be much more attractive to them). These are not an endangered species- they are common brown bats. That doesn�t make them expendable- but it also doesn�t mean we have to live with them inside of our home. I just can�t take the chance of more of them entering the house. I have three dogs that would have to be quarantined if they ever had contact with one of the bats (so far- so good). I just want them to find another house more attractive to them for them to relocate to. I�m thinking D.D.N.�s house should be vacant for a long time- maybe I could encourage them to find an opening in their sub-standard roof� Oh wait- there is one thing I have been doing to make my house less attractive for my bat colony: For the last few nights, I have been hitting the areas they crawl out of the roof with my garden hose. I have been doing this about an hour earlier than when I saw them leaving on Saturday night. They REALLY don�t like the shower. They all come out in a matter of a few seconds, flying wildly in all directions. They try to return when they think I am done- then I squirt them again. Tomorrow? Might get the hose out an hour earlier than tonight. Maybe , if things aren�t that comfortable, they will decide to move before the cold weather arrives� 8 quarts of sliced peaches in medium syrup, 9 half-pints of spiced peach jam tonight after work. Didn�t get done until 6. But I should be free for at least the next 3 days. The tree rats were working on my unripe peaches when I came home from work, but there are so many still on the tree, they really can�t hurt my harvest much anymore. The Mohall Celebration is this weekend, so I really don�t want to have to put anything up after Friday. The tomatoes are turning ripe quickly in this hot weather- I might have to put another batch of salsa up before the bands start playing. I�ll let you know if I do�
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