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Yes, a bat, not a rat.
Yesterday, came into the kitchen to get my breakfast and i see something in the kitchen sink. On first look, i thought it was some leaves from the plants on the kitchen sill. But on closer look. It was a Bat. It was in a small pool of water in the sink basin.
So i take it out - its still alive - dry it off, and place it in a box with a microwavable cat warmer thingy. Wait until evening, but keep checking its still alive during the day.....
I live on a farm, and there are bats in the eaves of the buildings. How this bat got in, who knows, the only thing is, is the fact he is inside and with me! It was a little Pipistrelle bat.
Forward onto the evening, fast approaching dusk, hes still alive so i place him on the patio table outside the livingroom window.
I can see all the other bats coming out from their roosts, so i retreat and watch to make sure hes ok.
After about 5 minutes he starts to move about, them another 5 minutes he starts to care for his wings (they mustve stuck from being wet) as they werent forming the wings properly. Then after 20 minutes from being let go, he jumps/hops across the table and takes flight into the night. Very satisfying!
No, he didnt bite me or scratch me, and i dont think ive got rabies.
All adds to the wildlife family here on the farm. I keep wild bird food out all year so have big families of sparrows, wagtails, starlings, tits and finches etc. Woodpeckers have arrived to eat the peanuts too. Have to use tight knit cages as the crows magpies can get into other stuff.
And the small paddock nearest the house, a young hare has taken up residence in the hedgerow/grass too! You can see him sunning himself, or see his ears in the longer grass.
My mate had one flying round his kitchen recently, one of his two cat's brought it in - they are both prolific hunters.
i love bats - well done!
Our daughter had one flying round and round her bedroom in the middle of the night once - tried to help it "see" the open window by curtaining off the other windows and standing in front of the mirror and it seemed to do exactly that after a few more laps. Whether my efforts made any diffrence, I've no idea
Great news and a good outcome!
Years ago, we had a cat that brought in a bat.
Similar to you, we thought she had bought in some dead leaves at first until she dropped it on the floor and it started moving.
We managed to get the cat out of the room & then set about catching it. At one point it was doing laps of the room at full pelt, but eventually, it landed on a rail & sat there (well, hung there).
We were struggling to catch it, because every time we went near it with something it detected it & flew off.
I was trying to think how I could outsmart it and decided to try the kitchen sieve, as it would act like a net, but might be difficult for the bat to detect.
Amazingly that worked & I managed to catch it in the kitchen sieve before transferring it to a box.
We then rang a bat refuge place that we found online to ask for advice, as it had a slightly torn wing.
After being told it was illegal to capture bats & I could be prosecuted (yeah, thanks I'll be sure to talk to the cat about this later), she recommended just taking it to a suitable local spot & releasing it. So, that's what we did and after a little bit of consideration, it flew off.
I was well chuffed. The cat was a bit miffed.
I occasionally collide with a bat while night riding. Must be blind as a ...
Our cat caught one once as well
Well done OP, big karma points for saving the little fella
Cool! I help out on bat surveys occasionally, nice watching them foraging etc
Took the dog out for a walk a couple of days ago at about 11am and saw a bat flying about above the canal. I was pretty surprised as we'd only seen them in the evenings and did't think they fed in the daytime?
Saw some when I was in India as part of a tour. But no small fluttery things, these were fricken huge.
Often see them out walking the dog. Never worried that they will fly into me, they are amazingly agile (well the small pipistrel ones are). If the insects are out. you'll see them.
Had a bird in the loft conversion that left a bit of a mess recently. Was hard to heliport through the velux.
back in the 90's we went to a screening of Dusk till Dawn at Brisbane University student union, leaving to walk back to our camper van late at night a "flock??" of massive bats flew past us. over the years my memory has probably added some VAT to their size but i think they were roughly the size of pterodactyls
11 out of 10 OP. I used to run a youth hostel which had bats. I would stand and watch them all as they came out at night, it's a great comfort to know they eat midges, up to 3000 per night.
I had a bat in my trousers once! Yes, you read that correctly, I was a firefighter and we had to get changed in a morning for “parade” or various other times into thick wool trousers, I’d left them over my locker door overnight and I was very surprised when something brown and furry dropped out when I came to put them on in the morning!
It made the local paper and even for some bizarre reason Radio Adelaide with an interview from our kitchen. The bat people came to check it over and it was released ok.
Years ago we had a family day out to Longleat.
Walking through the bat enclosure, bats flying about above your head and almost pitch black, I reached forward and put my hand gently on my Mums head, scratching my fingers around a bit.
I'll never forget the look of shock and disbelief on her face as she very, very slowly turned round to my Sister, whispering, ' I think there's a bat on my head'...
You had to be there 😂
What sort of person let's their cat catch an endangered species?
Put a bell on them at least.
APF
We had a bat in the dining room today, must've come down the chimney. The bat. Not me.
Released it into the ivy on a tree in the garden.
I remember riding down Sherbrook valley about 10pm on a warm autumn evening and coming across a bunch of bats also flying down Sherbrook valley after an evening's feeding. Wonderful experience.
I felt a bit different in Sri Kanka when in the evening fruit bats used to sweep down past us. About a hundred I guess. Big buggers, about 5foot wingspan.
I take it you're all in the UK!?
In other parts of the world you'd be getting a 4 stage anti-rabies treatment if a bat even so much as brushed your skin...
What sort of person let’s their cat catch an endangered species?
Seriously? Deary, deary me. 🙄
After being told it was illegal to capture bats & I could be prosecuted
Bats are indeed very protected, removing or rehoming them is basically illegal.
That bat now owns your house. When are you transferring the deeds?
Similar to an example above, we once had a bat fly down the chimney and out of the open (cold..) fireplace, before doing endless laps around the living room. Quite a surprise when you're sat watching the telly.. Took ages to release it, eventually capturing it in an old landing net, as it refused to be shepherded out of the open windows; we had tried using a sheet held up as a moving barrier but it kept finding ways around. Big relief once safely released.
over the years my memory has probably added some VAT to their size but i think they were roughly the size of pterodactyls
I had a very similar experience in a park in Brisbane. I saw this massive flock of, what I thought were crows, take off from a tree and head towards us. They flew right over us at quite low level and it wasn’t until they’d passed that I realised they were fruit bats. They were huge!
Give some
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
To the bat, man.