Bats - any ideas???

[spiderslegs]

Have also posted in Goodhousekeeping as I wasn't sure where to put this but,

My house is full of bats, there must be about 30 lurking around.

We have a fairly large colony in the roof but I think the hot weather has upset them & lots have come in.

Most of them are in the attic but there are about 10 (that I've found) in the bedrooms & downstairs& dead ones. Most of the ones in the house seem a bit distressed & are clinging to curtains & walls but I don't really know what to do with them.

Help.

[ilovesprouts]

your not allowed to move them im sure of that

[catinthehat2]

I bet they are desperately thirsty in this weather

can you get them a drink of water asap?

(had something similar last year, bat baby in the house. I put it in a sandwich box with a jam jar lid of water which it lapped at. phoned vet and took it in, and they passed it onto proper bat rescue. if it happened again, I would go to the bat rescue direct and as k them to d/w)

[Wigeon]

The Bat Conservation Trust have a bat helpline (I'm not joking!) for exactly this kind of question. Also quite a few FAQs on their website.

[Beamur]

Whereabouts do you live spiderslegs - local Wildlife Trusts may also be able to offer advise, as would a Councils Wildlife Officer.
My PIL is a bat expert too. I could ask him.

[spiderslegs]

Have phoned Bat conservation trust, they told me to pick them up with kitchen roll, put them in a box & feed them water, I now have a boxful of baby bats & am waiting for the local batman.

[catinthehat2]

have just looked at the advice on the link, and I am really pleased that I did the right thing last year!
if you need to move them (which I did becasue of cats) get gloved up, put them in an ice cream tub sized container with air holes, with somehwere to hide (I used handfuls of dryish vegetation, they suggest a crumpled tea towel) and give them a shallow container of water.

and if you feel it's OK, try to get some close up pictures of them, they are the most amazing creatures with stunning faces. you cannot ever see them properly while they zip & zoom around in the twilight

[ilovesprouts]

how are they ,have they gone to the batman now

[spiderslegs]

They have not gone to the batman, I was told to take the box up to the attic, open all the windows & leave it on its side.

Hopefully their mothers will come and drag them out, sadly it's up to nature now.

They are, apparently, somewhat like human children, useless when they reach the crawling stage. No brains, bugger off all over the place & get themselves into trouble. I have been told this will last for about a week until they all find their wings, so have many boxes at the ready.

They are Daubenton's bats, which are fairly uncommon in houses but, as we are only metres away from the river Wye, explains their presence.

[ilovesprouts]

i see bats flying at night time

[VivaLeBeaver]

How are they getting from your loft into your bedrooms? I'd want to be stopping that! We've had bats in the loft before but not in the house, apart from when the cats catch them and bring them in.