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This little fellow/girl has been visiting our house on most nights now for the past month or so. He just flys in and hangs around in one of the bedrooms, usually high up on a curtain, for a while and then flys out again some time during the night.

Pretty crappy shots so I am only posting up to see if someone can give me an ID and an idea if its behaviour is normal.

Thanks for the help.

Its a Leafnosed Insectivorous Bat of some description... most probably a Eastern Horeshoe bat... although its ears and colouring don't look quite right from the angles I can see..

They are actually quite good to have around these little fella's as they eat moths, mozzies and the like... and its surprising just how many insects they get through in a night.. and its not unusual for them to enter houses in search of prey.. every night though... now that is odd.. are you sure that its leaving during the night?.. My bet is that its roosting somewhere inside as it can't find the way out... the normally roost in groups so its probably an unhappy chap if its trapped inside..

Oh don't touch these guys... they won't hurt you if you leave it alone.. but they do have teeth and trust me they hurt when they bite.. they are also known to carry Lyssavirus (of which there is no cure) so leave the handling up to someone who has been immunised for Lyssivirus and trained to handle them.. (like me)...

Thanks Sue for the info. We will keep a closer eye him over the next few nights to see if he is in deed trapped. If so we will seek a bat handler to move him to pastures greener. (If bats like green pastures)

Holy crud, you have a bat in your house! That's awesome. Is the official name Batty?

Pehpsi wrote:Holy crud, you have a bat in your house! That's awesome. Is the official name Batty?

Yes. Batty is the official name of insect eating friend.

CraigVTR wrote:Thanks Sue for the info. We will keep a closer eye him over the next few nights to see if he is in deed trapped. If so we will seek a bat handler to move him to pastures greener. (If bats like green pastures)

The easiest way to get them outside is to try and coax him onto a smaller peice of fabric... like a tea towel or something... wear gloves or something though and gently push him onto the material.. the simply hang the towel (with the bat on it) on the clothes line... and I'm betting that he will be gone by morning..

...or just leave a couple of doors and/or windows wide open so it can find its own way out. I would be reluctant to handle one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_bat_lyssavirus

I get regular visits from bats. A juvenile hung about for a few weeks, finding its own way in and out each day, and moving on of its own accord.

Bindii wrote:The easiest way to get them outside is to try and coax him onto a smaller peice of fabric... like a tea towel or something... wear gloves or something though and gently push him onto the material.. the simply hang the towel (with the bat on it) on the clothes line... and I'm betting that he will be gone by morning..

He hangs on one of the bedroom curtains so we will just take it down one night and put it outside.

AndyL wrote:...or just leave a couple of doors and/or windows wide open so it can find its own way out. I would be reluctant to handle one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_bat_lyssavirus

I get regular visits from bats. A juvenile hung about for a few weeks, finding its own way in and out each day, and moving on of its own accord.

We think he is coming in each night because our kitchen/verandah is always open and he has been seen flying in to the house from that direction. Thanks for the link, nasty illness.

nice pictures craig!

Call me a city slicker, but i would be pretty freaked out having that little fella flying around my house! creepy!

Call me a city slicker...

That's pretty ironic considering the bat problem in the city at the moment - sydney that is...
James

Hahaha you know what? same here as well! Recently (well not that recently) some council (my details are sketchy) attempted to relocate flying foxes from the botanical gardens to some caves somewhere else, but they ended moving to a park in Kew. Our house happens to be on their flight path to whereever they are going, and i suspect they are in my garden at night munching on the fruits.

However, while I do keep windows open for the cool breeze, We have fly screen on all windows and if i knew one of these guys were trying to get into my house, i'd probably never open them

But hey! cool pictures man !

I work near hyde park in syd, and sometimes when I am leaving of an evening, it is like a black cloud. I used to occasionally have tiny little bats in my house in the mountains when I was younger, though this looks slightly bigger. I would want elbow + length welding gloves to handle this.

Just to add to Bindii's post that even if you are unlucky enough to get a scratch you should get immunised to lyssa virus (which is related to Rabies...Nasty)

Suren

jdear_89 wrote:

Call me a city slicker...

That's pretty ironic considering the bat problem in the city at the moment - sydney that is...
James

Its not a bat problem... its a people problem... in my eye's the bats have done nothing wrong...

Viz wrote:I work near hyde park in syd, and sometimes when I am leaving of an evening, it is like a black cloud. I used to occasionally have tiny little bats in my house in the mountains when I was younger, though this looks slightly bigger. I would want elbow + length welding gloves to handle this.

Lol... its about 7 cm's long... fully grown... its teeth would be about 3mm long... and while you certainly shouldn't ever risk getting scratched or bitten by one I thinks a pair of gardening gloves would do the trick..

surenj wrote:Just to add to Bindii's post that even if you are unlucky enough to get a scratch you should get immunised to lyssa virus (which is related to Rabies...Nasty)

Suren

Yup Lyssavirus isn't exactly nice... okay its deadly with no known cure.. and while they actually have no idea whether or not the rabies vaccinne works or not its best to at least give it a go..and this is from someone who not only is immunised but has been bitten by a lyssavirus infected bat.. if your ever bitten or scratched by bat you need to a)try and keep the bat - as they have to euthanese it to test for lyssavirus... and b)go and get a post exposure vaccine for rabies..