My Batventures

A few weeks ago, a bat appeared out of nowhere and promptly disappeared into nowhere.

Last night, a new bat or the same bat returned. Bats are hard to find. I started going room to room, shutting off entry points and inspecting for bats. I shut the windows in my living room as well. Then I started hearing noises. I had trapped the bat between the screen and the pane of one window. It was getting antsy and irritable.

I don't have a lot of up-close experience with bats, so I immediately turn to rumor. Many bats have rabies, particularly those that end up inside houses. I needed to get it out without letting it bite me. I tried attaching a garbage bag to the window, and slowly opening it, hoping the bat would crawl inside. The bat was too smart for this, and kept pushing at the edges. Then I tried setting up a towel wall that the bat could grab onto. He wasn't interested. I decided I just needed to grab the bat and carry him outside, which is what I did. I left just enough space for him to crawl out, then scooped him up in a towel and held tightly. The bat began to make a series of noises. I rushed him outside and dramatically opened the towel. My next-door neighbors applauded.

This experience gave me a new understanding of Batman. I grasped, in the abstract, that bats are scary, but now I know why. They're better flyers than birds, more agile. They have amazing fingers--when it was crawling around on my screen, it moved more like an insect than a mammal.

On a tip from a friend, I have been reading up on the symbolism of bats. If this bat means what I think it does, I need to make some major life changes.