Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Rabies

290 replies

HuckleberryBlackcurrant · 23/07/2023 06:46

We found a bat in our spare room today. We live in the US. It is currently triple bagged in our refrigerator waiting to be sent to the health authority for analysis for rabies. We won't know if the bat is rabid until Wednesday. We are terrified. We have no idea when or how it got in. We have 2 kids and I am 37 weeks pregnant.

Apparently rabies vaccinations can cost thousands of dollars which we really can't afford right now .

If you believe in the power of prayer please send one up for us. We are very very scared.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
22
Vinvertebrate · 23/07/2023 20:32

It’s informed me too. Dcat has brought home bats several times - they’ve always been dead, but I hadn’t realised the risk.

HuckleberryBlackcurrant · 23/07/2023 20:33

@AxolotlOnions
I don't see how it's a 'misplaced fear' when they are the main carrier of rabies here. We were advised to send it for testing by the health department so we are following that guidance.

OP posts:
Doingtheboxerbeat · 23/07/2023 20:39

After reading the ignorance of the first page, I am relieved that this page has finally caught up. Rabies has to be the most horrendous way to go and I'm am flabbergasted at the lightness people were taking it.

AxolotlOnions · 23/07/2023 21:01

If you find a dead one you send it in for testing, I've done it myself. You don't deliberately kill them! You had nothing to fear if you'd just stayed away, the bat was clearly in far more danger.

AxolotlOnions · 23/07/2023 21:14

Also, I hope if wasn't one of the bats that is critically endangered or you could be looking at a very hefty fine.

oakleaffy · 23/07/2023 21:28

AxolotlOnions · 23/07/2023 21:14

Also, I hope if wasn't one of the bats that is critically endangered or you could be looking at a very hefty fine.

No one would fine someone from killing a potentially rabid bat that has entered their home with children.

There would be a national outcry.

Don't be so ridiculous.

Tough luck on the bat- it entered someone's dwelling place- people have died of ''rescuing'' bats, by contracting rabies.

oakleaffy · 23/07/2023 21:29

AxolotlOnions · 23/07/2023 21:01

If you find a dead one you send it in for testing, I've done it myself. You don't deliberately kill them! You had nothing to fear if you'd just stayed away, the bat was clearly in far more danger.

Being as the brain has too be dissected, the bat has to be killed for testing anyway.

AnSolas · 23/07/2023 21:33

AxolotlOnions · 23/07/2023 21:01

If you find a dead one you send it in for testing, I've done it myself. You don't deliberately kill them! You had nothing to fear if you'd just stayed away, the bat was clearly in far more danger.

Moving house and expecting the bat to make the monthly bank and utility payments is a crazy.

HuckleberryBlackcurrant · 23/07/2023 21:40

@AxolotlOnions

As the bat was in our house for an undisclosed period of time, it was recommended to us to get it tested. So that's what we are doing. If it were outside or I had watched it fly into the house and knew where it had been at all times we would have of course let it be. It's not like we set out to hunt this bat down and kill it. We originally released it. But when we received advice to have it tested that's when my husband quickly killed it. It didn't suffer.

Anyway idk why I'm defending myself to someone who values a bat more than human beings.

OP posts:
oakleaffy · 23/07/2023 21:43

Isntthisniceandnew · 23/07/2023 17:55

One of the signs of a rabid animal is they approach humans/become uninhibited.

Like this rabid fox....NY, USA. Tested positive for Rabies.

Rabies-Infected Fox Attacks Woman

A rabid fox attacked a woman outside of her New York home. Sherri Russo was in her front yard when a fox started to viciously attack her. As she tried to bre...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-gXkm_WcZM

xPeaceXx · 23/07/2023 21:45

Omg

@HuckleberryBlackcurrant I wouldn't give a shit about the bat. Hope the tests come back clear. Please update us.

HuckleberryBlackcurrant · 23/07/2023 21:48

@xPeaceXx
Thanks I will. Hopefully we hear on Tuesday.

OP posts:
StefanosHill · 23/07/2023 21:51

AxolotlOnions · 23/07/2023 21:01

If you find a dead one you send it in for testing, I've done it myself. You don't deliberately kill them! You had nothing to fear if you'd just stayed away, the bat was clearly in far more danger.

But it’s going to be killed to be tested anyway

Justcallmebebes · 23/07/2023 21:56

You killed a bat, double bagged it and put it in your freezer?? That's awful, what's wrong with you?

Winederlust · 23/07/2023 21:56

CoachBeardsJane · 23/07/2023 07:55

THIS!

Can people stop taking the piss out of op. We're incredibly lucky to live in a country where it's incredibly rare to encounter a rabid animal and if you did it is free for the vaccines.

In the us they have rabies in the wild and the vaccine course can cost thousands per person.

If you're ever asleep in a room with a bat you have to act as though you've been bitten because the teeth are so small you might not wake up and you really won't notice the bite marks.

This x 2!

Justcallmebebes · 23/07/2023 21:58

Winederlust · 23/07/2023 21:56

This x 2!

Bollocks

Cheesusisgrate · 23/07/2023 21:58

I am amused at apparently literate adults not being able to read a thread

Swrigh1234 · 23/07/2023 22:01

Tillyteacup · 23/07/2023 15:11

You are being hysterical and your husband shouldn’t have killed the poor thing.

What a pathetic response to OP who is worried about the health of her family and you are worried about a bat. Are you this pathetic all the time of just saved it for this thread.

JustDanceAddict · 23/07/2023 22:01

That sounds very worrying, can you wait until you get the results to have the vaccination?
We are lucky in the uk not to have rabies, we saw a bat outside our front door during covid / it obviously was unwell but it disappeared - I wasn’t aware anything carried rabies in the uk though.

BordoisAgain · 23/07/2023 22:01

Justcallmebebes · 23/07/2023 21:56

You killed a bat, double bagged it and put it in your freezer?? That's awful, what's wrong with you?

Hopefully not rabies!

Swrigh1234 · 23/07/2023 22:02

Justcallmebebes · 23/07/2023 21:56

You killed a bat, double bagged it and put it in your freezer?? That's awful, what's wrong with you?

What’s wrong with you? Missing a brain?

Swrigh1234 · 23/07/2023 22:04

AxolotlOnions · 23/07/2023 21:14

Also, I hope if wasn't one of the bats that is critically endangered or you could be looking at a very hefty fine.

Another pathetic idiotic comment. They are coming out of the woodwork tonight.

Swrigh1234 · 23/07/2023 22:06

Doingtheboxerbeat · 23/07/2023 20:39

After reading the ignorance of the first page, I am relieved that this page has finally caught up. Rabies has to be the most horrendous way to go and I'm am flabbergasted at the lightness people were taking it.

This is MN. OP had the misfortune of posing a serious question to people whose intellect stretches as far as love island at the most.

Poor OP. Hope all is ok with her family.

AdoraBell · 23/07/2023 22:08

Fingers crossed for negative result.

Swrigh1234 · 23/07/2023 22:09

gogomoto · 23/07/2023 17:41

The crucial thing is did the bat bite you. I've never known a bat approach a human willingly. We have one fly in a couple of times, cute little creatures, both times it happily left

Do you know what rabid means? And rabies is spread. No idea why these people turn up on these serious threads to comment and look stupid when they know nothing about the topic.