12-gauge for bats???

M

Mike Irwin

Staff
I'm in Pennsylvania with my mother this week, as she just had surgery.

She and dad (and their 4 greyhounds) live in a house built in 1903. Very nice house, been in the family since 1943, when my grandparents purchased it from the original owners.

Anyway, I'm heading for bed last night, and I see movement out of my eye. It's dark in the hall, so I flip on a light, and flip out...

It's a bat. A BIG bat. The thing probably had a 10" wingspan, and body length of 5 to 6". It's the biggest I've seen indoors.

Anyway, we finally get it out of the house through the balcony door...

My question is, what 12-gauge load for bats in the house that won't mess up 100-year-old plaster too badly? :D

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Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
Tennis rackets work nicely, too. As do wiffle ball bats. ;)

Don't try this at home, kids....THWOCK!

Mike

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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
 
Get to know em, once they accept you as friendly they will bring you bugs and you won't have to hunt your own.

They are probably roosting in your attic, get em to leave for a while and screen the vents and they will hopefully find another place. They are a lot more beneficial than harmful as long as you can keep the bat crap out of the house.

Hookin up a full time light in the attic might do it.

Sam
 
For bats??? I would say get one of those automated defense guns that they use to shoot down guided rockets that are too close to ships. You know, once they "lock on" they shoot a billion rounds, until the rocket is dead. They look like R2-D2 with a Gatling gun. That will teach the d@mn creature not to mess with me. Oh yeah, the plaster is toast!

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DUM SPIRO SPERO
While I Breath I Hope
 
A twelve gauge? :eek: In the house?

Umm...Whoa.

First off, I think you need to ascertain if this is a one-time event, or do you have a colony somewhere in the house? If it was a lost or lonely bat, then you should be okay. Unless he starts stalking you. :D

If you've got a colony, then you may need to call the nearest zoo and ask for help.

LawDog

[This message has been edited by LawDog (edited August 25, 2000).]
 
I've killed dozens of pigeons (ran over one in a marked unit and clubbed a couple with my batons), so I'm not PC. When it comes to bats, I see them as more beneficial than detrimental. They eat insects and I'd rather have bats than insects (especially mosquitos).
 
Yeah, why kill the bats, drive them out (loud noises work quite well, like a BB gun without a pellet loaded), and then make sure they can't get back in. Bats are our friends, they eat mosquitos.

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The Alcove

I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist

The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Mike Irwin
I prefer a 50 cal. Barret 750 grn.H.P. when you hit them you see a pinkish mist cloud...lacking that a pellet gun or if they wont sit still for you to shoot them-some things are funny that way mayby a 38 special shot load it,s # 12 shot. good luck......Originally posted by Mike Irwin:
I'm in Pennsylvania with my mother this week, as she just had surgery.

She and dad (and their 4 greyhounds) live in a house built in 1903. Very nice house, been in the family since 1943, when my grandparents purchased it from the original owners.

Anyway, I'm heading for bed last night, and I see movement out of my eye. It's dark in the hall, so I flip on a light, and flip out...

It's a bat. A BIG bat. The thing probably had a 10" wingspan, and body length of 5 to 6". It's the biggest I've seen indoors.

Anyway, we finally get it out of the house through the balcony door...

My question is, what 12-gauge load for bats in the house that won't mess up 100-year-old plaster too badly? :D

[/quote]
 
They're probably in your attic. They entered throw a hole somewhere along your roof line. If you get rid of them now, you'll just get more when the next ones find the same hole(s).

Bats are beneficial. Don't kill them if you don't have to. They won't attack you.

Chase them out of the attic and then patch all holes.
 
Bats are protected in most if not all states. Killing them is not a good idea.

If they are roosting in your attic chase them out with bright lights. Find the hole they used to enter and repair it with metal or wire mesh (Hardware cloth).

Put up some bat houses around your property, they look like birdhouses but have no hole, they are open on the bottom. Bats are beneficial and having a few in your yard will cut down on the insect population. Get help from the Boy Scouts in your area, they know how to make bat houses, they do it all the time.

That bat probably got lost and wandered into your house.Usually they avoid people and prefer roosting sites where they won't be disturbed.

If the bright lights do not work,. try ammonia or a lot of mothballs. Both methods have worked in inclosed areas.

I have a friend who removes bats and other vermin for a living. He uses an CO2 fire extinguisher to stun the bats and picks them up and removes them. As they say on TV, don't try this at home, bats will bite if they are cornered.

Then of course if you suddenly notice two bite marks on the neck of your family members you may have a problem! :)

Geoff Ross
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by C.R.Sam:
Get to know em, once they accept you as friendly they will bring you bugs and you won't have to hunt your own.[/quote]

Bwaahahaha. Just about spewed coffee all over the monitor and keyboard. Thanks Sam. As luck would have it, I really needed a laugh right then... :D



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"...and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
Luke 22:36
"An armed society is a polite society."
Robert Heinlein
"Power corrupts. Absolute power - is kinda cool!"
Fred Reed
 
jump.gif
Now THAT was hilarious!!

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God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!

oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"
 
Mike Irwin,
You shouuld have shot it.....that could have been Janet Reno in her OTHER form. :D

Note to JBT'......just a joke fellows. ;)

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
 
#12 shot is kind of like dust/sand, and will probably take down the intruder, but it will still make a mess of the walls at close range. Tennis racket works well, though you'll need to sweep from teh side or from behind, as bats are very good at dodging.

But seriously, it was probably just a lost airman, and has been amply noted, bats are your friend and it'd be much better to figure out how to run them out and keep them out. We had some in the attic for a while, bright lights and Pink Floyd motivated them to find other quarters, and and hour with screen,tacks and hammer and then shop-vac took care of the problem for the future. God luck, and we're hoping to hear a positive prognosis for your mom. M2
 
410 is the approved indoor Bat round
That "big" bat prolly weighs a quarter of an ounce!

I think PA DER has a pamphlet on Bat proofing your house


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>ABOUT OUR WORK

As the only service we provide is bat exclusion, we do consider ourselves experts in this field. The
following is information about our work.

More and more people are seeing bats roosting in buildings, instead of caves. One of the reasons is
that there are many new land developments which are destroying many of the bat's natural habitats. When
this is the case, bats must relocate to new roosting grounds which are sometimes buildings. Another
possible reason that bats leave their original roosts may be due to over population in the colonies.

Our work was started about 10 years ago here in San Antonio, Texas. With an affiliated office in
Wisconsin, we cover the all of the continental United States. We completely exclude all bats from the
building (s) and seal possible entry points, preventing re-infestation. All of our work comes with a written
guarantee. Our excluders that we use are our own, the Hanks EX-100 or the Hanks PEX-100. The type of
excluder used depends on the opening.

These excluders are not electrical or mechanical. The ultra sonic devices out there DO NOT work on
excluding bats; they only move bats to different parts of the attic or walls. We have also found that lights,
smoke, gasses, mothballs, pesticides and noise have all failed in excluding bats from buildings. Experts
agree the only safe and smart way to remove bats from a building is to exclude them and then seal up the
entry points. The method of sealing openings in the winter months is not recommended as an exclusion
method, since some bats do hibernate within the walls instead of migrating south. We here at Commercial
Bat Control have seen lots of bat exclusion methods tried. To review our field studies of exclusions click on
"Studies". If you have basic questions about bats and there habitat, look in our links page under "Bat
World". Bat World is a living bat sanctuary in Mineral Wells Texas. We at Commercial Bat Control
support all of there research and studies with bats in captivity. Bat World also provides a vast amount of
knowledge about bats in urban life opposed to bats in caves. Check them out, you'll be glad you did.[/quote] http://www.commercialbatcontrol.com/

dZ
 
Guys, guys...

The bat thing was tongue in cheek!

Yes, we did have a bat in the house the other night.

No, I'm not going to go blasting away with a gun in the house! :)

This is a semi-regular occurrence.

As I said, it's an old house, with LOTS of roofline, gables, etc. Tons of places for the little blighters to get in.

My best theory is that they are entering the attic, getting into the walls, and then dropping out through the tracks for the big sliding doors (my parents house is a VERY fancy house).

Unfortunatly, the attic is fully finished. Part of it was the play rooms for the kids, the other part was the maid's quarters (the
builders, and later my grandparents, had a live-in maid.)

Here's something that will really get some of you going...

All of the woodwork in the main part of the house, excluding the hardwood floors, is American Chestnut, all with the ORIGINAL finish, and never painted.

Anyway, yes, I know how beneficial bats are, and I know that they're non-agressive, but I also know that they carry rabies. That's the part I don't like.

I like the bat houses idea. I'll bring that up to the parents.

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Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bottom Gun:
Put a bright light in the attic and hang a photo of Janet Reno below it.
The bats will be gone by morning. Spiders too. :D[/quote]

Bottom Gun....he do that and the attic itself might come apart-instant dry rot...find the shingles hiding on the roof of another house...hell, even the cobwebs'll flea. :eek:

Wait until dark after the flying rodents leave...THEN seal up the attic or whatever.

If they don't bother ya-chasing one out occaisionally aint a big thing-why worry about them?

[Oh yeah...except their guano [dooky, for you non-bat persons] and respiration CAN give you rabies if inhaled and the colony is infected.



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Satanta, the Whitebear
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