Bats as Housepets

It was a dark and snowy night. Recent snows had caused me to get into my kindling stores. One was a box of good hickory twigs in the fruit cellar. There was a tiny noise that I couldn't identify as I dumped the cardboard box of twigs into a tote, which I carried into the house.

All the pets were with me, watching a movie in front of the wood stove. A noise was heard from the bedroom. Pandemonium broke out when I saw what looked like a bird flying around. The dog barked and lunged at it. The cats eagerly waited for it to dive within claw's reach. When it lighted on the wall by the ceiling, I realized it was one of the Little Brown Bats. It had a surprisingly big wingspan for such a little creature. It swooped all over.

Quickly ushering the pets out and closing the doors, I called my wildlife expert. Lissa said to try and catch it in a blanket and get it back to the fruit cellar.

When I returned to the bedroom, it had stopped flying around. It was nowhere to be seen.

The dear Little Brown Bat was finally found, clinging to the backside of the drapes. When I'd shopped for material to make drapes, I wanted some beautiful damask, but couldn't afford it. Consoling myself, I decided that such elegant fabric would be too grand for my modest home. Then I laughed, realizing such a rationalization was merely sour drapes.

Now, I was glad the fabric was lightweight. I put on my boots, gloves, hat, coat and new bee veil, just in case it wanted to fly in my face. I gently bundled the bat in the drapes, taking the curtain rod with it. Shining a big flashlight in my other hand, I stepped out into the horizontal snow. As I made my way through a three-foot drift, I couldn't help but wonder if anyone else was thus occupied during what seemed to be a blizzard. The curtain rod dragged in the snow, but the vital contents were safe from the storm.

Back down in the fruit cellar, I opened the drapes and placed the bat back on the cardboard box it seemed to favor. I apologized for disturbing its hibernation. I had been sure the pair of them had left weeks ago.

Back in the house, I kept a sharp watch out for the other bat. I checked the tote of kindling, peered behind drapes and was on high alert for some time.

The next day, I took a small box full of soft fuzzy fabrics down for it. There was no sign of it, so I guessed that it was tucked into the rack of wood down there.

Although the house was warmer for the poor critter, I fear they really don't make ideal house pets.

                                              Kindly leave comments at jodeesblog@gmail.com

Adorable New Tenants

Stacking some wood on the rack in the fruit cellar, I noticed some dark stuff high in the far corner. It looked like maybe mice had made a nest upstairs in the workshop and it had worked through to the cellar. On closer inspection, I realized it was two tiny bats.

They are Little Brown Bats, only about three inches long, and they probably came to hibernate where the temperature doesn't get below freezing. A few days later, it was warmer, so I left the doors open for them to get out and gobble up some of the many insects that were flying around. When Lissa came up, I told her I had new critters. She was as delighted as I was with such a rare find.

Later, there was only one of them and it had moved to another wall. The other one may still be on the far wall, but they are so small they are easy to miss. Now I am tiptoeing around, trying not to disturb them. Lissa told me to stop taking pictures because the flash disturbs their sleep.

I put a remote temperature sensor down there, which shows that it stays in the mid-thirties, their perfect hibernation zone. I'm leaving the door open about an inch for them to get out. Lis did some research and found they squeeze through a small opening. Not as I thought, an aerial maneuver in the style of a Spitfire aircraft.

They aren't an endangered species, but they are threatened, so it is an honor to provide habitat for such helpful little mammals.