<p>^ That’s right – Jeanna Giese:</p>
<p>[USATODAY.com</a> - Only known unvaccinated rabies survivor thrives](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-12-24-rabiessurvivor_x.htm]USATODAY.com”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-12-24-rabiessurvivor_x.htm)</p>
<p>And you don’t have to have been bitten by the rabid animal. Getting the virus, which can be in their blood or saliva, onto your mucous membrane is enough to infect you.</p>
<p>we had a family of about 6 baby squirrels running around our house; running up the stairs, hopping on our beds-it freaked us out, We made a maze out of cushions to chase them out of the house-we all stood on chairs, brooms and baseball hats in out hands.
We have had a bat as well-I called an exterminator for that and for $180 he came, knocked the bat down, put him in a net and took him somewhere-I wasn’t home, but my son said the bat made a horrible screeching noise when caught.</p>
<p>Tonight, just before 9, I was out talking with my neighbor and a bat flew past, almost right between our faces. I have no problem with them except for the carrying of rabies, which unfortunately is a pretty big deal.</p>
<p>Bigger news is that two nights ago, for the first time in my entire life, I saw a live Luna Moth – it was fluttering around the light on our front porch-- very large, and very pale green. Probably not that big a deal most places, but unusual around here.</p>
<p>The animals I miss most from childhood are flying squirrels. Some of the cutest creatures on the face of the earth…</p>
<p>Fortunately most bats don’t carry rabies–only .5% of them carry it. The thing is when people find a bat on the ground there’s a significant chance of it carrying rabies because a healthy bat is not going to be in that situation . . . A grounded bat is likely to be injured or diseased. </p>
<p>If you come into contact with any bat it’s definitely better to err on the side of caution and get shots, though. I think it’s kind of odd how dogs and cats automatically are assigned rabies shots and humans aren’t.</p>
<p>We had a weird experience with a skunk a few years back. I heard scuffling around on the back porch and this very scruffy dirty looking skunk (they are usually very clean looking despite the odor) was on the back porch. Me, my husband and the cat stood at the closed back door watching it and it came towards us and started trying to get in the house and was actually trying to climb the screen door. After a while it wandered off. We assumed it had rabies as it was unusual behaviour.</p>
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<p>Go figure - there’s one on our large window right now. They look like small birds.</p>
<p>Very similar story here. Bat entered my son’s room through a barely open window (no screen) at 3am. We sealed off the room but couldn’t find the bat next day - thought it flew out… wrong! Bat made 3 more appearances in the house next day before I finally got him into one of our small upstairs bedrooms. I donned my batgear to avoid any contact that might have resulted in a need for shots, and successfully relocated the bat to the outdoors.</p>
<p><a href=“http://i140.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/r18/MarkandGracie/batman.jpg[/url]”>http://i140.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/r18/MarkandGracie/batman.jpg</a></p>
<p>That is a piece of window screen over the face of my racing helmet. I know I look ridiculous - why do you think we took the picture?</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing that. Gave me a good chuckle. :D</p>
<p>I would love to see a Luna moth. Are you in the Northeast?</p>
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<p>I don’t know where lspf72 is from, but we are in the northeast.</p>
<p>Great story, Theresa!</p>
<p>We were living in Ann Arbor when I was first pregnant with my D. I was sitting on the floor in the LR of our apartment, grading papers (Was a TA), with my back to most of the room. All of a sudden, H says, don’t turn around. So, of course, I did. There’s a huge bat, flying right at me. I went hysterical, only time in my life. Leave the apartment, while H and our other roomies are running around with brooms trying to chase it out. It disappeared. Next morning (bedroom door was closed, so sleeping was safe) we found it hanging from curtains behind a chair, and got it out (well, not me, of course.)</p>
<p>Not long before, I had seen the movie Elephant Man. the name comes from the theory that his mom had been terrified by an elephant who broke free from a parade when she was pregnant with him, and that that was why he was deformed the way he was. </p>
<p>So, I kinda expected D to be born with wings and pointy teeth…:)</p>
<p>I grew up in Northern Minnesota where bats are small and the little black bats are our friends; they stay outside and eat the mosquitoes. And they are small! (I never even had to get a bat out of a cabin when I was a camp counselor; those bats stayed where they belonged.)</p>
<p>And then I moved. August two summers ago, there was a bat in my bedroom here in Ohio. I had to stifle my scream because we had an exchange student spending her first night in America in our guest room and I didn’t want to give her a heart attack. </p>
<p>The species of bat was, I kid you not, the Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus). It was the size of a pterodactyl. I swear, his wing span was enormous. He swooped across my room and out the bedroom door. </p>
<p>My daughter and I searched the house for him all day, couldn’t find him. My bravest friend (a retired Marine) came over and she helped me look too; she couldn’t find him either. Husband and son were away, fishing in the Finger Lakes, so they missed all of the excitement. The next morning my daughter found him, pointed out he had been sleeping on the kitchen curtains about 18 inches from my head as I was eating my Cheerios. Augh!!! In one motion DD swooped him into a butterfly net and threw the net full of bat out the kitchen window. </p>
<p>My heroine!</p>
<p>And I will never understand how a bat the size of a pterodactyl could have been swooped into a butterfly net…</p>
<p>MidwestMom, bats do fold nicely into a more compact form :)</p>
<p>Yes, we have had little bats the size of a Buick!</p>
<p>Why do they show up when husbands are away on fishing trips?</p>
<p>“Mommy, there’s a very large insect in my room,” calls DS from his CRIB (kid you not).
I am DEATHLY afraid of bats, so running into that bedroom, grabbing DS from crib, and closing 2 doors between the bat and ourselves is my version of lifting a school bus to save my child!</p>
<p>Ok, here is the update to the original post. Upon returning home around 7:00 in the evening after receiving 1 anti rabies vaccine and 4 shots of anti rabbies imunoglobulin (in the butt), we entered our house to findd the bat flying around the house. My husband bravely caught the poor little fellow in a net that we have used for crabbing and placed the bat in a bucket with a lid. It was a clear bucket that tennis balls came in so we had a nice view of the guy. We called the sheriff’s office and they sent out an animal control officer who arranged to have the bat sent to the state lab for testing. Our second vaccine was due before the results came back. The morning after our second round we got the results and they were negative. I was sad that the poor little bat had to die and didn’t have rabies but it was a relief to all of us. We have not gotten the hospital bill for the two rounds of shots for my husband and myself but I know it is going to be many thousands of dollars. I have had enough drama for the summer already, then I was walking our dog down our dirt road and a car stopped and said he spotted a bear one road over. Not kidding. We went directly home.</p>
<p>a Bat fungus is causing many bat deaths… big trouble for bats :(</p>
<p>[US</a> experts: Bat fungus causing historic decline - NewsFlash - NJ.com](<a href=“http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-3/124413766075820.xml&storylist=new_topstories]US”>http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-3/124413766075820.xml&storylist=new_topstories)</p>
<p>Also, the reduced air pressure around wind turbines is causing bats that fly too close to hemorrhage.</p>
<p>The protocol is that if you have a bat in the house and you were sleeping, you need to get rabies shots. Even if the bat swooped by and scratched your scalp with a claw, you are potentially at risk. In a brilliant move, my husband chased a bat out the window after we woke up to it flying around our bedroom. We both had the full series of rabies shots. Not fun.</p>
<p>Bat in our house several years ago. Got up in the middle of the night and headed downsatirs to write something down not to forget by morning. Saw the bat. Called the cops while I hid in the bathroom. They gave me animal protection number to call and no one answered. </p>
<p>We put the lights on in segments throughout the first floor of our house where it was flying in circles through all the rooms no my colonial. With all the lights on except the den, we opened the sliding glass doors and out it flew. </p>
<p>Best friend had a bat in her house a year later. Her soon got it out with a broom. Neither of us thought of getting rabies shots or contacting a doctor. We didn’t touch the bat at all. </p>
<p>Have encountered (not happily) many bats over the years at resort vacations on a lake or in camp, etc. They swoop closeby to you but no one ever mentions the rabies risk.</p>
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