Tuesday morning, at about 9am, Blanca (our housekeeper) and her daughter Melinda went upstairs to clean the master bedroom. I was working in my office and heard shouting, followed by rapid footsteps on the stairs. Blanca let me know in broken English that something was in the bedroom swooping around.
I knew immediately that it was a bat - it is August, after all - and so I found the police grade LONG flashlight Kent gave me (qualifies as a weapon if necessary) and headed upstairs. Had to get one cat from under the bed and the other from a closet and then the search began. I looked high and low - no bat.
Sent a text to Rusty "BatMan" Jennings and he said he was on the way and would get here as soon as he could. Blanca and I changed the sheets, looked around again and talked ourselves into believing that the thing had flown up into the big AC intake vent. While waiting on Rusty to arrive, they moved to Ike's room to clean and I went downstairs to get some work done.
Soon after, I hear a blood curdling scream - Melinda had found the bat!
They had decided to go back in the master bedroom to finish cleaning and when she picked up and moved my "cat cam" there he was, perched on the top of the TV cabinet, mouth open and trying to look fierce. Needless to say, she was a little shaken!
Luckily, he did not bite her and by the time I got there he wasn't making "threatening faces" any longer. Of course, I was brandishing the flashlight and that kind of makes them shrink up and get scared.
Since this usually happens at night, and Jerry is the only one who is practiced at the "safe bat transfer method", I decided to wait on Rusty. For 45 minutes, Blanca and I took turns keeping the flashlight shining on him. I felt terrible, because he was obviously terrified of us and of being caught out in the daylight.
That said, I really didn't have a choice on capturing and sending him in for testing, because I didn't know how long he had been in the house. They fly out at night, so he had been SOMEWHERE until 9am. The boys didn't really seem to be aware of him, so I'm thinking he was in hiding until Blanca came in the room or they would have been going crazy to catch him.
Here's a good shot of his pointy little face - click the image for full size viewing.
Of course, the "safe transfer method" is not without its faults and the little bugger got caught on the back side of the box lid and flopped out on the carpet when they picked up the box. Luckily, they got the box back on him before he could take off. Like I said, he was really scared and shaking by this time.
My old friend Officer Rico from COH Animal Control came for pick-up and when I opened the door she said "I know you!" I said yes, unfortunately, you DO know me ... ;) No results yet - SURE hope it tests clean.
Like clockwork, Rusty was back for the evening flight out. He checked the attic - no evidence of our own bat colony (yeah!), but heard lots of bats departing from the firewall between us and Harry's house. After checking out a few more places, he settled on the plumbing access doors in the master bedroom (next to my side of the bed) as the entry point. The hinges weren't installed correctly and there was a gap large enough for a bat to easily get through.
Yes, that's masking tape sealing the doors off until we can confirm that there is no other entry point and install screens/reconfigure the doors. The confirmation process involves waiting for another bat to enter the house - I'm not sleeping well.
I shot a video that evening - 10 bats in 29 seconds - if that gives you an idea of how many are living over there. Enjoy!
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