Bats in the Walls

It's not that I'd never seen bats up close before. I had experienced a couple of isolated bat invasions during the summer months when I was visiting someone else's house. It's just that I had never had to share my living space with bats who had taken up residence.                                                                                            

I don't think I could ever get used to listening to the scratching behind the walls, knowing that at some point in the not-so-distant future I would be surrounded with the spastic fluttering of winged rodents as they ate a hole through my ceiling or walls and squeezed through into my bedroom at night. I was terrified that I may awake in the still dark wee hours of the morning and be dive-bombed by several furry flyers whose appearance recalled dark spooky tales.

In reality, there's no chance a bat will transform into a vampire, and even the bats that are called "vampire bats" live in the tropics and so far away from my northern home. It is also true that vampire bats are not known to attack humans, preferring to snack on the blood of large herbivores, such as cows and horses.

Still, this knowledge doesn't really make me dislike a bat invasion any less. Bats are fine, even helpful, creatures who gobble up hundreds of mosquitoes a night (you know, those little darlings that actually do feast on human blood). But they are appreciated for their good work out of doors -- not inside the house.

So how did I get rid of the bats scratching in my walls? Truth is, I haven't, at least not yet. I am writing this in early August. The bat biologist I consulted told me to wait until the end of the month at least before closing up our bat holes. I am also aware that the bats need an alternative place to roost, or they will not survive the winter. I have not yet solved this problem and don't want to condemn these little mosquito munchers to an early demise. But when the moment comes, and I am nailing tin or some other unchewable surface to the wooden places where there are now tiny holes, I will be certain to record my experience and post it here. I just hope I can get to it before it is too late for this year!

Do you have a bat story to tell? Please sign the comment section and share your experience with the other readers of this wizzle. We all need a little courage. And a little perspective on how to overcome our nervousness about certain creatures. As one way of dealing with my own uncomfortable feelings about bats, I made a brown bat one of the heroes in my children's story Fiona the Theater Mouse. The intro illustration on this wizzle shows Fiona riding on Bart the Bat's back. See how I try to domesticate my willies? I realize deep down that every creature on the planet is valuable and loved by someone. I exaggerate my own aversion to bats here, as I have mostly learned to appreciate their positive qualities. I just don't feel I should have to live with them as house pets. I wouldn't want them to go away altogether, though. Because then I'd have to write about my aversion to . . .                                                                                                

                                                         MOSQUITOES!