BAT in the BATHTUB!

Yep, it's August, so the bats are back in the house. This is the THIRD year in a row one of these wretched creatures has made it's way into our house and it's always in August.

The first incident was on August 21, 2007 when about 10pm one night Elvis woke up from a dead sleep and launched himself off the end of the bed. Minutes later a bat flew through the door into the bedroom with Elvis right behind. He jumped about 6 feet in the air and knocked the bat into their "toy basket". We searched and searched ~ ended up spending the night in the bedroom, lights blazing, with the bat still in the toy basket. As a novice bat woman, we set the basket out on the balcony and it flew away.

On August 24, 2008, we returned from a weekend in Galveston and after unloading the car, Jerry sat down to look through the mail. Suddenly there was "a bird" in the house ... turned out to be a bat. Since this was about 5pm, we know the bat had been in the house all night. After some careful maneuvering, the bat ended up in the extra bedroom where Jerry managed to open a window and get it out.

After "strike two", we hired EnviroPest to seal our house to help keep Harry's bats outside. This wasn't cheap. Harry said he wasn't interested in sharing the cost of sealing our common firewall as "he isn't bothered by the bats."

In late-March/early-April of 2009 I discovered a dead bat in a bag of Christmas decorations while cleaning out the attic. No longer shocked by the experience, we threw it away. In May another downed, but not dead, bat was found on my neighbors patio by her dog. It was tested and determined to be rabies free. Rusty came back to update the sealant between our house and Harry's. Still no action from Harry or the Homeowners Association.

Our maintenance manager reported having found about a dozen dead bats around our end of the townhouse complex. No action by anyone.

So on Thursday night, about 10pm, Elvis and Denny were "paws up" on the bed and suddenly I notice that both of them ~ in perfectly choreographed movements ~ were surveying the ceiling of the bedroom. This went on for quite some time. I left the lamp on all night.

Last night, I finished my evening duties and came upstairs to brush my teeth & go to bed. I flipped on the light in the bathroom, walked to the cabinet to get the toothpaste and saw a dark blob in the bathtub. Yep ... a live bat ... cowering in fear under the bright lights. I shot these photos while Jerry was trying to figure out what to use for the "safe bat transfer method" to get him out of the house.

I wonder what would have happened if I had not gone into the bathroom at that exact moment.

I'm waiting on a call back from Animal Control and the now dead bat is in a plastic container inside a Tide box on the front porch. I'm supposed to be in a car on my way to Winnsboro for a memorial service honoring my late mother-in-law, but I'm here waiting on Rusty "bat man" Jenny to arrive at 8pm to observe the "flight of the bats" at sundown and try again to determine their path of entry.

This has gotten very OLD and someone other than Jerry and I need to be taking action on the bat colony of 150 living next door in Harry's tile roof/attic!