Eeek! Get that bat out of here!

[GoFride]

I went over to a friend's house, and she has a tiny bat trapped in the pool area (it's a birdcaged pool - got the screening all the way around). We still don't know how it managed to get in, but (WAY more important) we couldn't get it out! It's flying all over the place! Any ideas on how to catch a bat? This is a tiny guy (or girl), and very fast!

[JLC]

My sister's cat brought a live bird into the house and let it go. We caught it by throwing a towel over it.

Does she have a skimmer net for the pool? Maybe that could catch the bat like a butterfly net? I'd be afraid of hurting it, though.

Is there an exterior door they can just leave open for the night? Maybe the poor little creature will find its own way out if there is an open door?

[GoFride]

The screen door is propped open, so it can get out into the back yard, but it just ignores it. I thought that maybe it would see the open door (or use sonar?) but that hasn't happened. The skimmer net is a good idea - thanks, Judy! We may have to catch it with the skimmer during the day if it's sleeping and we can sneak up on it.

[JLC]

A daytime catch (if its still there) sounds like a good idea. Most likely it will find its way out in the wee hours of the night, I'd imagine. After all the big scary people are gone and it has a chance to come down out of panic mode.

[wolfy-hound]

Poor little bat. Maybe if the door is open during the night, it'll swoop out once no one is around? Since they find their way out of convuluted cave systems, I'd think it would find a door. Unless it just likes watching the humans pull out their hair trying to catch it, of course.

When bats get into the vet or our shop, one of the techs usually catches it with a towel or a net.

[mainbutter]

a few solutions that have worked for me on multiple occasions. We had bats that got into my GF's dorm multiple times senior year of college, I assume they lived in the building somewhere.

1) Open doors/windows to the outside if possible, close doors leading to other parts of the building, let it leave on its own

2) Use a net. Fishing net, pool skimmer, anything will work really. Get a piece of cardboard to slide over the net opening once you have it trapped. Take the bat outside and flip the net inside out, the bat should fly away