We Have Bats Up In Here!
So the cats are in the bathroom getting into something. I go in and find the shower curtain rod halfway down the wall. I go to push it back up and I notice this big brown something on the wall. Now it’s the bathroom; the first thing I think is ..yeah..poop. How the hell did poop get up there on the wall?
Ok, so it wasn’t a rational thought and I look closer. Uh..How the heck did this little guy get in here?!!
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After the realization that it was a bat, comes the heart pounding OMG!! Ok, how am I going to get him out of here without hurting him or getting me bitten? I ran the cats out of the bathroom and closed the door. Which in and of itself was also irrational, the bathroom door had been open for several hours and he didn’t come out. So why would he come out now that I knew he was there? Right? Shut up, this isn’t your irrational moment! 😉
My first thought was to capture him in a towel, but that worried me. If I didn’t grab him right, he could crawl out in a panic and fly around the house. Then I’d never catch him. So think like you’re capturing a big bug. I need a glass or something big enough to capture him and see what I’m doing when I do.
To the kitchen! I’m a woman everything you need to fix something is in the kitchen!
I open a cabinet and there’s the answer, a large clear plastic storage container. Now what to put over it. I need cardboard. Of course there’s no handy piece of cardboard anywhere. So I settle for some heavy sheets of printer paper.
Back to the bathroom, close the door and take a deep breath. The container over the little guy. Easy enough. Now to get him inside the container. He won’t let go of the wall paper. A little gentle forceful coaxing and he crawls into the container. Now yelling for the kid to come open the bathroom door. Done.
Which door to take him outside through. The dog is on the back porch and I don’t want to walk down all those stairs to the yard. Front door it is. We go outside and I set him on the grill. I don’t know what I expected him to do, but he doesn’t leave. The kid goes to get the camera while I watch our little friend. Outside in the sun he starts shaking. Cold? Maybe, it’s kind of cool today. Scared? Probably. Poor little guy. I take a few pictures and then try to think of where to put him.
Only place I can see around the front yard, that will give him a little protection from the wind and still help him keep warm is in the nook of the overhang part of the roof on the shed. I put the container up against the wood and he climbs out on the small shelf. Free and safe from harm. He was gone within the hour. Where too? I don’t know. We have a lot of bats around here. And that’s fine with me. I prefer the bats to the mosquitoes.
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The Significance of the Bat
In the world of Shamanism, we believe that animals enter our lives to bring a message from the Great Spirits. To tell us something we need to know about and be ready for. If you’d like to read more about the Animal Sign of the Bat, you can check out the article about this little guy’s visit on Springwolf Reflections where I share spiritual insights and shamanistic perspectives.
I’m glad he paid us a visit. I consider this encounter to be a great blessing and welcome his message of change and rebirth.
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