i'll open the fridge. you hit the lights. bats are attracted to light...
Having slept in a little bit this morning, I was a little behind my usual morning schedule. I went into the kitchen to make my breakfast and coffee when I was startled by something dark in the sink.
I jumped in surprise. At first i thought it was a frog. You know..sink/wet/frog.
But upon closer inspection I realized that this 'frog' was mis-shapen and pointy.
And it had funny looking feet.
Was it a large bug? Surely, despite the fact that this is Florida (the Land-of-Large-Bugs), this was too large to be an insect.
After pondering for a few moments as to whether or not to leave it alone and let my brother deal with it later, I decided that being a woman of action I should deal with it on my own.
I stood a ways away and blew some air at it to see if it was alive.
Something twiched on its head.
Wait - were those ears that twitched?
Ears!!!?!!!
Wha?!!
Surely it can't be...
So, I got my flashlight from my room to inquire more closely.
Upon closer inspection I saw that it had a round little nose and nostrils.
Freaking nostrils?!!
omfg it's a bat!!!
And here's where I started to fret.
Clearly I needed to get it out of the house.
But, what if the twitch was a fluke. What if it's really dead.
In a stroke of brilliance I decided to test this theory.
I got out the rubber kitchen gloves (because bright yellow gloves are trés fierce).
Then, quick as a flash, I got a newspaper out of my room.
OK, deep breath...
Brooke: *poke*
Bat: *clickclickclick* Ph34r my fangs!!!
The bat freaking showed me his fangs! And he clicked at me!
Brooke: eeep!
ok, not good.
ok ok, what now.
I have to trap him in something. But what?
Oh there's a cup - I'll put him in there and then take him outside.
Steeling myself to battle it out with the bat, I gently placed the cup in front of him and then nudged him from behind to coax him to crawl in (much the same as I would if it were a lizard, which I have much experience wrangling when they wander into the house).
Oh, not a good idea.
Apparently there is a different procedure with bats.
Bat: *spreads wings*
*fangs liek whoa*
*CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK*
Brooke: eeeeee!
oh he is not pleased with me
This is when I decided to call for reinforcements.
I woke up my brother to explain the bat situation and my futile attempts to get leatherwings into the cup. He suggested a bowl, but indicated that he was not taking part in the catching of said bat. Apparently he was not one to interfere with my animal wrangling skills honed from many hours slaving away in the animal hospital.
I put the gloves back on.
Very carefully I put the metal mixing bowl on top of the bat.
I then slid cardboard underneath him as he clicked frantically.
The clicks were reverberating on the inside of the bowl causing it to shake in my hand.
Not to be deterred, I ran outside, bowl, cardboard and bat in hand.
In one wild motion I pulled the bowl and cardboard apart in the air to let the bat take flight.
He plopped straight down onto the grass.
Kind of an anti-climactic ending to the whole fiasco, don't you think?
ETA: Another one!? What are the odds of finding two in one day?!
Honestly - this does not bode well.
Catch #2 went much more smoothly than the first (seeing as I had all of that morning bat experience to work with).