An Evening at home with me, my hubby, my daughter and a BAT????

Last night, our little one was snug as a bug, in her bed. . .  and we were catching up on "House of Cards" when my husband yelled out "BAT."  My reaction is to fall to the floor with a blanket over my head (somehow I resisted screaming like a lunatic like I usually do) . . . . he opened the front door, and I opened the back door, and this DING bat could not find his way out of our living room.  At one point, I told hubby, that I was going upstairs to our daughters room, to make sure she was okay. 

I crawled to her room, and closed the door behind me, shoving a towel between the end of the door and the floor. . . . just in case.  Turned on the light, and she was asleep.  After a bit, I asked my husband to slide me the cell phone, so I could call some bat removal experts.

As I called our usual company (Needham Woburn Pest Control), I heard Adam slam my son's room door closed (son is at overnight camp).  Needham Woburn Pest Control didn't have a 24 hour guy.  Fine, call me in the morning.  Next call was to Baystate Wildlife, and they have a 24 hour guy.  Talked to Alex, and he would be there in less than 45 minutes.  It was $350 to come down - fine, come on down!  Get this thing out of my house!

Alex arrives at 11 PM, with gloves, tennis racket and I give him a Ziplock bag and a Tupperware container.  (Yes, I know the drill.)  It takes him 10 minutes to catch the bat and put him in the container.  He is about to give me the container and says I can take it to city hall, or I can pay him $50 to do it. . . . . we will make out the check for $400.

After Alex leaves with the adult bat, we go upstairs, wake up the girl, and examine her body.  She is scratch free and blemish free.  She goes back to bed and doesn't believe me that there was a bat in the house, nor that she was up at 11 PM.

How do I know this drill so well . . . this isn't my first bat.  The Saturday after we bought the house in 1998, we had our first one, and the next night, we had either the same bat or a different one.  Turns out that bats return to the same place, over and over again.  They can smell themselves (great).  And since you can't mass kill bats, you have to provide a way for them to leave at night (and they leave nightly to get dinner), but can't get back in.  The added drama is that it is baby bat season, and baby bats haven't learned how to fly yet. . . .. and you don't want dead baby bats in the walls.

So, today I will call both companies for estimates of re-bat proofing the house.  (The warranty only lasts two years, and after looking at my "bat" file last night, I can see that the longest we have ever gone without a bat is three years.)

If I wasn't so afraid of the thing, I could go into business removing them from people's houses, but since I can't stand them, that is not going to be my new profession.  I am NOT going to be the new bat girl.