Slept with a window open. Woke up with a bat in my kitchen

[GreatGazoo]

First real week of summer heat here so I try to cool the house off at night. Have screens in all the windows except one in the LR. Had that one up about 5-inches all night. Went in the kitchen this morning and there was a bat sleeping quite comfortably right above the door to the pantry (it's a 1920s house). Not sure if she is awake or asleep but she seemed quite comfortable there while I made breakfast and lunch. Fearless and docile so far.

I live on the edge of a 700,000-acre park so I get all kinds of visitors and residents. Got a family of birds under the eaves but all the other animals are unmarried. My house is like Noah's ark for the celibate. One groundhog, one rabbit, one chipmunk (adorable), the neighbor's cat. Around sunset it's like a Disney movie as they all forage in different sections of the yard. Two years ago, I put out some seed for the pair of birds which were feeding hatchlings and looked exhausted. They wouldn't touch it but an adolescent black bear promptly crushed my fence and scooped it up. Lesson learned.

Have a pair of grey catbirds that show up around sunset and sing their little hearts out. They are like Jazz musicians with ADHD.

Hoping the bat leaves tonight. I might make a bat house for her on one of my trees but I don't want her to get used to my kitchen.

[hlthe2b]

1. Please don't do this. Bats remain the most common source for human rabies transmission

in the US and CDC reports over the past decades have shown incidences where individuals never even recalled a bite but did have bats in their home (or room for those taking place in long term care)**. This one sounds "normal" but one never knows. And even if your kind-heartedness makes you not want to heed my advice (and I understand that urge to protect wildlife, believe me), uninsured or underinsured costs for receiving human rabies prophylaxis runs into the many thousands$$ of dollars.

They are helpful animals to us in so many ways, so use your bat house--just don't have it close to your own.

**Bats are the leading cause of human rabies deaths in the United States, accounting for about 70% of fatal human rabies infections. This is primarily due to the fact that contact with infected bats is the most common source of rabies exposure in the country. CDC MMWR

[LuckyCharms]

4. Excellent advice!

[GreatGazoo]

6. Well my options right now are to remove it or let it leave on it's own

Last edited Wed May 20, 2026, 04:07 PM - Edit history (1)

I plan to keep a screen in that window going forward. I deal with wild animals all the time here. That is a big part of why I live here.

Appreciate your concern but the risk is exceedingly low, especially if I leave it alone:

>"From 2015 to 2024, 17 cases of human rabies were documented,..."<

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/php/protecting-public-health/index.html

ETA: When I look through those cases, they all messed with the bat (eg killed it or thought it was dead and handled it) and did not seek treatment immediately after contact:

In July 2024, a Minnesota woman who lived alone reported to family members that a bat or bird had been trapped in her house for several days. After discovering a bat in the sink, she reportedly killed it with a hammer and disposed of it. A bite was not mentioned; however, the method reportedly used to kill the bat could have produced splatter resulting in inoculation of infectious nervous tissue onto broken skin or mucous membranes. In addition, family members reported that the patient wore a hearing aid, was a deep sleeper who used a continuous positive airway pressure machine, and routinely consumed alcohol, factors that might have reduced her awareness of having had direct bat contact....

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/75/wr/mm7502a4.htm

[hlthe2b]

8. Given there have been reports documented of exposure where the individual (and not just

those with dementia, but sentient adults) never realized they had been exposed and a 99.9% fatality rate, I'd not be quite so dismissive. If I didn't care I'd blow you off, but I see this in my ER all the damned time. Years ago, local or state public health would step in to pay for/provide post-exposure prophylactic care--no more. The last uninsured person (three weeks ago) in my ER who was exposed to a dead rabid bat when the bag they'd scooped it up in broke and biologic debris contaminated an unrelated scratch on their hand will ultimately have to pay out more than $7,000, which is not unusual today.

Okay. I get it. I care about animals too and have had my fearless moments too, but damn if I am going to f...k around with potential rabies. At least call your local county or state public health department/animal control and see if they have safe recommendations for removal in case it doesn't fly back out that window tonight (or in case more arrive). Okay. I will say no more, but this is my field of expertise, so discount me as you wish.

[EYESORE 9001]

2. If that happened in my house

my wife would say, ‘that’s it. Burn the house down.’

[LastDemocratInSC]

3. Hardwood or aluminum?

[GreatGazoo]

5. hard wood

my house

[MoonlightHillFarm]

7. Love this story!

I occasionally have bats swooping in and around my house. I just open all the doors and they eventually swoop outside. They are very fast!

[Laurelin]

9. I love bats too but rabies

If i were you ( and I'm not) I'd call a wildlife rescue place to move the bar along, and call my doctor to arrange rabies vaccines. Forget all the horrid stories about the vaccine. Everyone in my family has done them and they're fine, in the arm, relatively painless.

The risk of rabies is indeed low but not something to take lightly when there's a nice prevention.

[Laurelin]

10. Forgot to add

My daughter's entire veterinary class was required to get rabies vaccines before they started vet school. I'm pretty sure the risk from pets is much lower than the risk from bats. I have this hilarious story about how my school got a Guinness record for exposing the most people to rabies from a sick horse, but I'm to sick from chemo to type it. But believe me, vaccine good.

[Talitha]

11. Bats are quite non-responsive in the daytime.

At night when it's flying around the room, open the window and turn on an outside light - it'll go out towards the light, because that's where the bugs are.

But in the daytime when it's sleeping in your house, get a thick towel or bath sheet and gently scoop it into your well-protected hands. Bring it outside and place it at the bottom of a tree so it can scramble up when it begins to awaken. Don't just 'toss' it up into the air and expect it to fly - it'll just tumble onto the lawn - trust me.

[GreatGazoo]

12. Thanks - Just after sunset here

back door is open. She is 10 feet from that door.

If she is still there in the morning, you're saying thick gloves on hands and then the thick towel is between the gloves and the bat?

[Talitha]

14. If you want, keep an eye on it till it wakes up and flies out, then close the door.

Otherwise move it out in the morning. Open the door beforehand so you can just walk out without reaching for the doorknob. TBH, I've never had them respond when removed from the room by hand. They're in a torpor or something when asleep.

If you have thick gloves, by all means use them. Otherwise make sure you're fully padded with a towel or 2 and gently scoop/roll it into the hollow of the towel made by the shape of your hand.

Make sure the Bat is totally enclosed on all sides and top/bottom. They're small like a Mouse, and a Mouse only needs 1/4" space to squeeze through.

[Alpeduez21]

13. It is recommended by the experts that someone who wakes up

In the presence of a bat gets treated for rabies. You have no idea what the bat did while you were sleeping. Again it’s not really an old wives tale it’s the experts and professionals who study bats that say: Get Rabies Shots

That being said; that’s pretty freaking cool

[GreatGazoo]

15. As I understand it if you suspect any contact and the bat is still present

you capture the bat so it can be tested. Then seek immediate medical care.

The bat had no physical contact with me so I'd rather not have it killed (for testing). And it left as soon as it got good and dark outside.

[Alpeduez21]

18. Pretty sure they could treat you for rabies without testing the bat

From the mayo clinic(and any other source about rabies: “Once a rabies infection is established, there's no effective treatment. Though a small number of people have survived rabies, the disease usually causes death. For that reason, if you think you've been exposed to rabies, you must get a series of shots to prevent the infection from taking hold.”

I’m not trying to argue. Just know that your life is at risk and these are the stakes you’re playing with. At this point as you’ve stated the bat is no longer present.

[GreatGazoo]

19. Yes - You would start empirical treatment immediately but if the bat test comes back negative

you could stop. There is a similar protocol for ticks here. Eg. They can test the tick to see what you have been exposed to and then treat accordingly.

If you’re able to do so safely, you should also catch or trap the bat, or contact your local health department or animal control to catch it. Testing it could spare you from rabies treatment if the bat doesn’t have it. If testing the bat isn’t possible, the safest thing to do is give you rabies-preventing treatments as a precaution.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/bat-bite

Testing the bat includes killing it so if you are in the state of Vermont you have to fill out paperwork (a permit) to avoid a fine because small brown bats are endangered (due to White nose syndrome) and protected.

https://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/sites/fishandwildlife/files/documents/Learn%20More/Living%20with%20Wildlife/Bats/2011_General_Permit_for_Incidental_Take_of_Bats%20A_and_App_1.pdf

[GreatGazoo]

16. 10:15 PM update -- She left

Once it got good and dark she waved goodbye and headed out.

Screen in the window. All good.

The adventure continues.

[mnhtnbb]

17. Was the door to your bedroom closed

the night the bat got in? If not, you do understand there is no cure for rabies once the infection is established and it is always fatal in humans?
You are putting yourself at huge risk -- for a long time-- because the incubation period for rabies although typically is 1-3 months, it can vary widely and last up to several years.

My son and his partner had a bat in their house a year ago. They both underwent the rabies vaccine. It took them several days to capture the bat after trying to let it get out of the house on its own.

[GreatGazoo]

20. One case of rabies incubation was documented proable in India at 25 years !

Majority of the cases have an incubation period between 31 and 90 days. In the literature, the overall reported incubation period varies from 30 days in 30% of the cases, 31–90 days in 54%, greater than 90 days in 15% and in 1% of the cases beyond 1 year is recorded.[3] In a cohort of 47 cases studied following autopsy at a single center in South India, the median incubation period recorded was 60 days (range 7 days to 4 years).

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3424805/

My bedroom door was wide open but zero chance this bat bit me. This idea that a bat can bite or scratch you in your sleep and you don't wake or notice it seems to be based on one case and the 'bitten while asleep' aspect is only one of many ways this person could have been infected:

In July 2024, a Minnesota woman who lived alone reported to family members that a bat or bird had been trapped in her house for several days. After discovering a bat in the sink, she reportedly killed it with a hammer and disposed of it. A bite was not mentioned; however, the method reportedly used to kill the bat could have produced splatter resulting in inoculation of infectious nervous tissue onto broken skin or mucous membranes. In addition, family members reported that the patient wore a hearing aid, was a deep sleeper who used a continuous positive airway pressure machine, and routinely consumed alcohol, factors that might have reduced her awareness of having had direct bat contact.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/75/wr/mm7502a4.htm

[Mad_Dem_X]

21. !!!

I am absolutely terrified of bats. If I found one in my house, I don't know what I would do!