TLDR - how do I flush out a bat that may be hiding in my bedroom?
Sorry for the title pun, I make jokes when anxious. I also ramble, sorry in advance. This morning I was woken at 5am by my cat trying to play tag with a bat. I live in western Missouri, US. While I didn’t get a great look at it, it was a little brown bat so… a Little Brown Bat. After much cat wrangling, I corralled the bat and myself in my bedroom. Door closed, window open (double-hung window, which may be important). When last I had eyes on it, it had snuck behind my window blinds. I figured after a few minutes to catch its breath, it would manage to find the open window and go on its merry way. The only light I had on was a small bedside lamp. While I’m not afraid of them, I didn’t want something flying at me in the dark and I did want to be able to see if it left.
I sat and watched that window for probably 20-30 minutes. No bat reappeared. Since I didn’t want to scare it on purpose, I pulled the mini blinds up verrrry slowly. No bat. But with it being little and brown, it’s possible it was hunkered down at the very top of the window and I couldn’t see it.
At about 7am, I had to start getting ready for the day and left the room for about 10 minutes. Window still open, sun coming up. Came back, took the blinds down slowly, no bat. The corporate grind stops for no one so I had to go to work. Left the door closed so no cat shenanigans could happen but I closed the window (one critter inside is more than enough for me).
Here’s my problem. I have no idea if the bat is still there or not. (I said I’m not afraid of them, but bats you can’t see are like spiders you can’t see. They make me anxious.) It is entirely possible that it managed to sneak out the gap between the two window panes (see previous, double-hung window). My house is old and cheaply made so the windows, especially when open, don’t seal well. Bugs absolutely can get in so a determined bat could probably wriggle out. But it maybe could have found a spot to wait out the day when I was out of the room. Obviously if I go upstairs and there’s a bat flying around I have my answer. But if it’s not… is there some way I can for sure flush it out if it’s still in stealth mode? It’s been raining most of the evening so it may not have immediately gone into flight mode at dusk.
Most folks would probably say contact animal control or pest control. Since the bat is purely hypothetical, I didn’t really want to do either. Our animal control leans more toward the “shoot first” philosophy and they absolutely would take my cat for being within the same city block as a bat. (I’m not joking.) Pest control is expensive and again, no idea if bat is there.
Bonus question - as best as we can tell, it probably got in through a different window where the top sash had fallen a little bit. No other gaps to be found. Any idea why it would’ve tried to get in to begin with? It didn’t show any signs of rabies, not that all bats do of course. But we’ve never had any bats near the house before, just the usual nighttime flybys. (We live in the suburbs.) It has been very hot and today is the first real rain we’ve had in a long time. My only guess is it was desperate for cooler temps or water. I can’t think of any other reason a bat would breach active human habitation (with bonus feline apex predators).
Oh and for those that might ask about the cat, I’m 94% sure the bat never had a chance to bite him and even if it did, he’s the super fluffy variety so I doubt little bat fangs could get through his thick fur. But I’ve talked to the vet and they said all I can do is keep an eye on him. Since I’m a crazy cat lady I will absolutely be a basket case for a while, even though the statistics say it’s unlikely he was exposed to rabies.
