5 things to do when you find a bat in your kitchen
One afternoon a couple of weeks ago I was getting ready to collect the eldest from school, pouring out a travel mug of coffee, when I turned around and almost fell over this little fellow.
At first I thought Little Man had left one of his toys on the kitchen floor but then I realised that it WAS actually a bat.
A bat in my kitchen. A bat that was covered in cobwebs and didn’t look too well.
I took some quick snaps and then googled “bat in my house” – don’t you just love the Internet? The Bat Conservation Trust website came up in the results and I gave them a call. They were super helpful and gave me loads of advice about what to do next.
5 things to do when a bat comes to visit
#1 BATS DON’T LIKE LIGHT AND NOISE
Bats emerge at dusk to feed and rest during the day so if they’ve stumbled into your house in broad daylight (or fallen down the chimney as we think our little friend did) then they’re going to be pretty overwhelmed by the light and noise of a typical family home! You need to move it to a room where it will be on it’s own, away from people or other animals such as pets, and relatively quiet.
#2 KEEP IT SAFE
If the bat isn’t flying around the room then it’s a good idea to contain it so that it is kept safe until help arrives. The advice from the Bat Conservation Trust is to poke small holes in a shoebox for ventilation, add something soft like an old tea towel for it to crawl under and then coax the bat inside before closing the lid.
#3 KEEP YOURSELF SAFE
All wild animals are potentially harmful and some bats do carry rabies so if you need to handle the bat use gloves or a cloth just in case it gets scared and gives you a little nip or scratch in self defence.
#4 GIVE IT A DRINK
We think our visitor probably came down the chimney but we have no idea how long it was in there before it decided to pop out and say hello. It could have been dehydrated so I was advised to put a drink of water in it’s new temporary shoe box home. Bats are tiny so all you need is a plastic milk bottle top with a few drops of water in it.
#5 CALL FOR HELP
Bats are a protected species so you need to call in expert help who can check that your visitor is healthy. The Bat Conservation Trust will put you in touch with your local bat rescue group who will often have a team of experts on call ready to come and help rescue bats who’ve strayed from their home.
Following the advice I popped our bat into a small shoe box in our utility room. Unfortunately I forgot to put the lid on before I left for the school run and when I came back it had taken up roost on my trainers!
At this point I left the room again for just a few moments (to break up an argument between the little people) and when I returned the bat had gone altogether! A hunt around the house ensued (a great distraction from the argument) and we finally found it in the dining room. This time I made sure when it was back inside the shoe box I popped the lid on and then we left it alone.
That same evening two volunteers, Steve and Francis, from my local Essex Bat Group came to collect our visitor. They told us that it is an adult male pipistrelle bat in fairly good health but they took it away to their centre to make sure it was flying and feeding well. I thought that would be the last we’d see of ‘Batty’ but last Tuesday I had a call to say that it was coming back that night to be released into the wild again close to our house (presumably near to where it was living).
So we got the chance to see Batty again. It turns out he was covered in something sticky that had to clean off, had a few mites and a wonky eye but that he was flying and feeding well. Curly Girl stayed up for a lesson in bat care and was fascinated, asking lots of questions including what he eats – meal worms at the centre and up to 3000 midges a night in the wild.
It was a beautiful, chance encounter with an amazing animal.
And then he was gone, flying high above our house and disappearing into the night.
Linking up with The List at Mums’ Days and Brilliant Blog Posts at Honest Mum, Share With Me at Let’s Talk Mommy, Welcome to the Weekend at Claire Justine, My Best Post Of The Week at Britmums and All About You at Mama and More.
Great advice. We have baby bats in the kitchen some years. We now have well practised steps we take each time to help them survive. Including blocking holes. It is the most amazing educational experience for the children.#MBPW
I really need to send this to my parents they always have bats in the house. Although ours in the states can carry rabies so it’s very gross to even come near one. Love your list though and I will remember these if I ever get one here. Thanks for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme
Oh do they? Go ahead and share it! The bats in Europe have a risk of being rabies carriers too here so you DO have to be careful but the tiny ones only have little teeth that can’t get through gloves so as long as you take precautions you should be ok (according to the bat group). Thanks for hosting again lovely x
Wow, that would totally have freaked me out to find a bat on our kitchen floor! Well handled lady, and I do love a bit of randomness xx
It was SO random! And I was a bit surprised it had to be said… 😉
Oh wow, I bet this was the last visitor you expected!?! I would not know what to do but panic… great advice
thanks for sharing :):)
I know right?! Well now you know 😉
That’s amazing – so glad that he was okay. How fascinating for your children to have been able to learn about bats in this way. I have to say though, I would have freaked out if I’d found a bat in my kitchen so am impressed you handled it so calmly!
He he, bats don’t scare me. Now if it had been a daddylonglegs that would have been a different story… *screams inside*
Wow! that is awesome/terrifying!! I would definitely have screamed. We did a walk through a bat thing at a zoo in the Algarve and they sort of freaked me out. This one looked waaaay cuter though, poor little thing. I knew nothing about this but how ace that there is a local bat group! xxx
#TheList
Apparently there are bat groups all over the place – who knew?! x
How extraordinary and so pleased Mr Bat was safe. How great for your kids to experience this. Really enjoyed reading this. #sharewithme from Wicked World of Lucas
This was a special moment that only the eldest got to experience – Little Man was asleep when the bat team came back and to be honest that was probably a good thing! 😉
Grace & Lucas say – We LOVE bats. When we went on Forest Holidays, we did a bit of bat watching and it was really cool. So glad the lil’ dude was OK. #sharewithme
I can understand why people are a bit scared of them but they’re really SO cute! Up close and personal I found a new respect for them with their delicate wings and amazing little faces. *Goes all gooey*
Matilda would have absolutely loved this! Fascinating little things aren’t they, more so because we don’t see them very often or get close I think.
You’re so right Ben! It was amazing to watch him ‘walking’ with his wings and when he flew off I think I must have had something in my eye because it was leaking just a tiny bit…
I remember bats coming into our living room when I was a kid and we had to get the bat protection people out. Thanks for linking to #TheList x
After I got over my shock it was really fascinating and our local bat group were so helpful x
Have now got UB40 as an earworm… there’s a bat in your kitchen what are you going to do?
You know I came THIS close to putting that line in the post!! *hums tune for the rest of the day*
Oh wow! What a bit of excitement…..How cute! Glad he was ok. You handled it way better than I would have. I would of left the house until it was removed. I don’t like things like that.
This little guy was cute and so helpless. I’m not squeamish about spiders, bats, mice or snakes. But if a Daddy longlegs flies into the house I’m out the back door quicker than Usain Bolt. Seriously.
What a sweetie, I am glad he was ok. Great advice on how to look after them. I remember years ago we stayed at a chateau in France (a B&B). When we went to bed there was a bat flying round the bedroom. We teased my younger brother that it was a vampire. Luckily it went out though the window
Wow I bet that was a shock! You’ll often find them flying around older properties apparently. And if they’re flying then you just leave the window open and they’ll find their way out as you discovered. They can make a bit of a mess though ;(
Awww I just love bats! I think they’re such lovely creatures. I remember going to the bat room at London Zoo, and I was fascinated! Good job with your little visitor, you’re a bat heroine! X
Hey thanks! He was fab and a great education for my daughter. Look after nature and it’ll look after us, right?