NationStates Jolt Archive

So I'm sitting at my desk, posting on NSG and watching some TV - pretty much the usual...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/GermanNightmare/Batflying.gif
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/GermanNightmare/Batflying.gifNow, I've heard and seen them before, but I'm interested whether any of you have some of our little bat friends around who pay you a visit ever once in a while?_______http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/GermanNightmare/Batflying.gif

What are your bat-related stories? Where and when have you seen or heard them? (No, I don't want to hear about Ozzy's incident!)

So I'm sitting at my desk, posting on NSG and watching some TV - pretty much the usual...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/GermanNightmare/Batflying.gif
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/GermanNightmare/Batflying.gifNow, I've heard and seen them before, but I'm interested whether any of you have some of our little bat friends around who pay you a visit ever once in a while?_______http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/GermanNightmare/Batflying.gif

What are your bat-related stories? Where and when have you seen or heard them? (No, I don't want to hear about Ozzy's incident!)

I was driving home from work late one night when a pipistrelle (spp?) bat flew into my windscreen and got a wing trapped under a wiper. I pulled over cos I didn't know what the hell was going on, saw it struggling, picked it up and stood there for ages holding it while it was in shock. It was the coolest moment ever! After a while I started nudging it though to get it to fly off. again (which it did). Obviously I got called Batman for ages.....makes a change from people calling me Ratman tho' (I'm a pest controller). I really want a pet Egyptian Fruitbat!!!!!!!

no snakes in this post GN!:p

We used to watch the bats go after the insects at dusk because the way they fly is nutty. There have been the occasional bat trapped in a building moments where we try to let the little bugger out.

And then there is the weird ass dream that I just remembered reading this thread where a bat was trapped in a barn and if it bit you then you started growing a beard. I had this dream pre-puberty, and of course before puberty was explained to me, so that's what my sub-conscious came up with. Bit by a bat, now you have to shave. That's not a real bat story, though it is a real dream, so there.

I was driving home from work late one night when a pipistrelle (spp?) bat flew into my windscreen and got a wing trapped under a wiper. I pulled over cos I didn't know what the hell was going on, saw it struggling, picked it up and stood there for ages holding it while it was in shock. It was the coolest moment ever! After a while I started nudging it though to get it to fly off. again (which it did). Obviously I got called Batman for ages.....makes a change from people calling me Ratman tho' (I'm a pest controller). I really want a pet Egyptian Fruitbat!!!!!!!

no snakes in this post GN!:p
I hadn't heard of the pipistelle bats (looked a little into them now, though!), but that is a very great story to tell! Tells me something about you, my friend. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! Highly welcome!!!

We used to watch the bats go after the insects at dusk because the way they fly is nutty. There have been the occasional bat trapped in a building moments where we try to let the little bugger out.
I'm always amazed at their maneuvering! And boy, are they quick, too.
Here, the trees and my apartment building have a little footway with street lamps in between and all the insects gather around those, whereas the bats use that "tunnel" to hunt. Really fascinating!
And then there is the weird ass dream that I just remembered reading this thread where a bat was trapped in a barn and if it bit you then you started growing a beard. I had this dream pre-puberty, and of course before puberty was explained to me, so that's what my sub-conscious came up with. Bit by a bat, now you have to shave. That's not a real bat story, though it is a real dream, so there.
Good enough, if you dreamed it. ;) Thanks.

I'm always amazed at their maneuvering! And boy, are they quick, too.
Here, the trees and my apartment building have a little footway with street lamps in between and all the insects gather around those, whereas the bats use that "tunnel" to hunt. Really fascinating!
.

I've always wanted a bat helmet cam, just to see what that would look like to be flying like that. Probably a lot of blur...

I hadn't heard of the pipistelle bats (looked a little into them now, though!), but that is a very great story to tell! Tells me something about you, my friend. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! Highly welcome!!!

Thankyou, you're welcome! They are the main bat in the UK (I've no idea how many types are here but don't think it's many), v.tiny, kinda like a mouse with wings. Highly protected by law so touching/holding them is illegal.

*Chants*
BREAKIN' THE LAW!
BREAKIN' THE LAW!
:cool:

I've always wanted a bat helmet cam, just to see what that would look like to be flying like that. Probably a lot of blur...
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! That would be really cool, though! (But you'd have to find a cam and transponder small enough - otherwise the flight you might witness is more like a unvoluntary kamikaze dive...)
Thankyou, you're welcome! They are the main bat in the UK (I've no idea how many types are here but don't think it's many), v.tiny, kinda like a mouse with wings. Highly protected by law so touching/holding them is illegal.

*Chants*
BREAKIN' THE LAW!
BREAKIN' THE LAW!
:cool:
As far as I've found out via internet research, the only bats whose calls can be heard by the human ear are those of the Brown Long-Eared Bat (Plecotus auritus) but there might be others whose cries we could hear as well.
Well, not touching and shepherding that bat you've encountered would have been wrong, too.

As far as I've found out via internet research, the only bats whose calls can be heard by the human ear are those of the Brown Long-Eared Bat (Plecotus auritus) but there might be others whose cries we could hear as well.
Well, not touching and shepherding that bat you've encountered would have been wrong, too.

Ahh the wonder of the internet....

I saw bats at the zoo once, if that counts ;). But for real i've seen them wild in South America, that was cool, and possibly at other times but i've never really thought about it and kept them in my memory.

As far as I've found out via internet research, the only bats whose calls can be heard by the human ear are those of the Brown Long-Eared Bat (Plecotus auritus) but there might be others whose cries we could hear as well.
Well, not touching and shepherding that bat you've encountered would have been wrong, too.

True though it'd be interesting to have a permanent bat attatchment to the van! Sonar-nav cooler than Sat-Nav! I did an HND in animal science and we did a tiny bit on bats. There's a part of Africa (don't ask where) where they cull 99% of the population of Vampire bats because of them spreading disease to cattle/carrying AIDS. Sad but a neccessary evil.

Ahh the wonder of the internet....

I saw bats at the zoo once, if that counts ;). But for real i've seen them wild in South America, that was cool, and possibly at other times but i've never really thought about it and kept them in my memory.
Yes, the interwebtubenet rules!
Are the bats at the zoo doing anything during the day?
I've never been to South America myself, but from what I've seen, read, and heard, its wildlife is truly amazing.

I've never been to South America myself, but from what I've seen, read, and heard, its wildlife is truly amazing.

Yeah! Plenty of snakes in SA!!!!!!!!!! :D Plus crocs, spiders and many weird and wonderful things. I wish I had the funds to go travelling. One day.

Okay, I apologize in advance - this is going to be a very girly story. :rolleyes:

When I was 20, I spent a week in an old country house in Tuscany with three girlfriends. We slept two people to a bedroom. On the second night, the girls in the other room suddenly started screaming (and laughing, and screaming, and laughing...) because apparently a bat had somehow gotten in the house and was flying through their room at breakneck speed. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes and yelling over derisively that it was just a fucking bat, what was it possibly going to do?

Then it came flying into our bedroom.

Turns out a frantic, disoriented bat moves so fucking fast and erratic that with the thing taking dives at our heads the only thing we were able to do was, you guessed it, scream. And laugh. And duck, of course.
It was *really* bad. Pathetic but bad. The horror vision was that it would somehow get tangled in one's hair. *shudder*

Eventually, it flew back to the other room, my friends opened the window above their bed, and managed to get it out. The only problem being that sitting on the outside of the window had been 3 hugely fat spiders, which had of course conveniently fallen onto the bed...

I swore I would do the dishes for the rest of the stay if only I didn't have to go over there and help catch the spiders. I stayed tucked in bed, head under the covers, while the other girls were over there killing spiders with some metal shovel thing they found in the fire place.

I did all the dishes for the rest of the stay. Happily.

Except for the morning when a scorpion crawled out from under the stack of plates in the sink. But that's another story... >.<


Tuscany - Come for the Culture, Get Put into the Closed Ward by the Wildlife. :)

Okay, I apologize in advance - this is going to be a very girly story. :rolleyes:

When I was 20, I spent a week in an old country house in Tuscany with three girlfriends. We slept two people to a bedroom. On the second night, the girls in the other room suddenly started screaming (and laughing, and screaming, and laughing...) because apparently a bat had somehow gotten in the house and was flying through their room at breakneck speed. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes and yelling over derisively that it was just a fucking bat, what was it possibly going to do?

Then it came flying into our bedroom.

Turns out a frantic, disoriented bat moves so fucking fast and erratic that with the thing taking dives at our heads the only thing we were able to do was, you guessed it, scream. And laugh. And duck, of course.
It was *really* bad. Pathetic but bad. The horror vision was that it would somehow get tangled in one's hair. *shudder*

Eventually, it flew back to the other room, my friends opened the window above their bed, and managed to get it out. The only problem being that sitting on the outside of the window had been 3 hugely fat spiders, which had of course conveniently fallen onto the bed...

I swore I would do the dishes for the rest of the stay if only I didn't have to go over there and help catch the spiders. I stayed tucked in bed, head under the covers, while the other girls were over there killing spiders with some metal shovel thing they found in the fire place.

I did all the dishes for the rest of the stay. Happily.

Except for the morning when a scorpion crawled out from under the stack of plates in the sink. But that's another story... >.<


Tuscany - Come for the Culture, Get Put into the Closed Ward by the Wildlife. :)

That story rocks! I like bats and scorpions but not too keen on spiders
*wants to hear the scorpion story too!*

Yeah! Plenty of snakes in SA!!!!!!!!!! :D Plus crocs, spiders and many weird and wonderful things. I wish I had the funds to go travelling. One day.
:eek: I... I... Argh! I forgot about the snakes... Damn!
Okay, I apologize in advance - this is going to be a very girly story. :rolleyes:

When I was 20, I spent a week in an old country house in Tuscany with three girlfriends. We slept two people to a bedroom. On the second night, the girls in the other room suddenly started screaming (and laughing, and screaming, and laughing...) because apparently a bat had somehow gotten in the house and was flying through their room at breakneck speed. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes and yelling over derisively that it was just a fucking bat, what was it possibly going to do?

Then it came flying into our bedroom.

Turns out a frantic, disoriented bat moves so fucking fast and erratic that with the thing taking dives at our heads the only thing we were able to do was, you guessed it, scream. And laugh. And duck, of course.
It was *really* bad. Pathetic but bad. The horror vision was that it would somehow get tangled in one's hair. *shudder*

Eventually, it flew back to the other room, my friends opened the window above their bed, and managed to get it out. The only problem being that sitting on the outside of the window had been 3 hugely fat spiders, which had of course conveniently fallen onto the bed...

I swore I would do the dishes for the rest of the stay if only I didn't have to go over there and help catch the spiders. I stayed tucked in bed, head under the covers, while the other girls were over there killing spiders with some metal shovel thing they found in the fire place.

I did all the dishes for the rest of the stay. Happily.

Except for the morning when a scorpion crawled out from under the stack of plates in the sink. But that's another story... >.<


Tuscany - Come for the Culture, Get Put into the Closed Ward by the Wildlife. :)
That is an awesome bat-time story, just the kind I wanted to hear - besides, if young women can't behave girly girly, nobody can! :p:D
Too bad you had to kill the spiders, though. Next time, just use a glass and a piece of paper, trap them, and set them free. That way, they can tell stories of their own. ;)
That story rocks! I like bats and scorpions but not too keen on spiders
*wants to hear the scorpion story too!*
NO! No scorpion or snake stories in my thread. Period. :mad:

Yeah! Plenty of snakes in SA!!!!!!!!!! :D Plus crocs, spiders and many weird and wonderful things. I wish I had the funds to go travelling. One day.

Yep, the snakes are a pain, several times i've almost stood on one, although a few bricks or stones lobbed at it normally would sort out the problem...

Saw crocs there and scorpions, they are stinging little *Cough*, ummm, annoying things you know...most continents have amazing wildlife tbh with you, it just depends what you want to see. I personally like seeing foxes around (although ironically i believe fox hunting shouldn't be banned) for example, but then i'd also love to see a school of wales near the antartic(if that happens).

Oh, that reminds me, i saw seals there too (because you never get them anywhere else...:~)). And dolphins, that was cool.

To please German Nightmare, i like bats and so should everyone else....:D

And after thirty days, the bats are released...

My parents used to have bats in their loft. I don't think there have been any there recently, but I saw one flying around in circles in the garden for a while a couple of months ago.

*wants to hear the scorpion story too!*
It was just a literary device, there isn't really a story. :p I didn't even scream. Even though the thing was really hideous, small, pitchblack and evil-looking. First scorpion I'd ever seen in real life. Why that had to be on a sunny morning while innocently trying to do the dishes I don't know. *shudder*

Too bad you had to kill the spiders, though. Next time, just use a glass and a piece of paper, trap them, and set them free. That way, they can tell stories of their own. ;)
You gotta be kidding me! Everybody knows you don't catch spiders like that. :rolleyes: If they're under a glass you can still see them, and who in their right mind would want that? And a fucking piece of paper? Please, that would mean the eight hideous legs are separated from your body by some measly cellulose fibers not even a 10th of the thickness of one of those hideous legs!
*faints*

Nu-uh, I'm peachy to flies and bugs and grasshoppers and what have you, but spiders have to die. That's what they get for being spiders. C'est la vie.

Yep, the snakes are a pain, several times i've almost stood on one, although a few bricks or stones lobbed at it normally would sort out the problem...

Saw crocs there and scorpions, they are stinging little *Cough*, ummm, annoying things you know...most continents have amazing wildlife tbh with you, it just depends what you want to see. I personally like seeing foxes around (although ironically i believe fox hunting shouldn't be banned) for example, but then i'd also love to see a school of wales near the antartic(if that happens).

Oh, that reminds me, i saw seals there too (because you never get them anywhere else...:~)). And dolphins, that was cool.

To please German Nightmare, i like bats and so should everyone else....:D
Wildlife in all its abundance amazes me, leaves me speechless and humbled. Although, to be honest, I don't need to personally meet about half of it to appreciate it, if you know what I mean. :p
Too bad one of the greatest (German) wildlife filmers by the name of Heinz Sielmann has passed away at the age of 89. I grew up watching his films - great impressions, almost even better memories!
And after thirty days, the bats are released...

My parents used to have bats in their loft. I don't think there have been any there recently, but I saw one flying around in circles in the garden for a while a couple of months ago.
That is very neat! Good to see that you have an eye for that as well. :)
(Is there something the first line refers to? It somehow sounds vaguely familiar, truth be told.)

I'm still amazed nobody has made any comments on Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas yet. :D

That is very neat! Good to see that you have an eye for that as well. :)
(Is there something the first line refers to? It somehow sounds vaguely familiar, truth be told.)
Easy to notice - it was whizzing around a few feet above my head :)
(It's a running joke (http://botherer.cream.org/?p=595) from a UK magazine.)

It was just a literary device, there isn't really a story. :p I didn't even scream. Even though the thing was really hideous, small, pitchblack and evil-looking. First scorpion I'd ever seen in real life. Why that had to be on a sunny morning while innocently trying to do the dishes I don't know. *shudder*
Because a scorpion in the middle of the night would have completely freaked you and me out! *nods*
Sunshine makes it look less frightening.
You gotta be kidding me! Everybody knows you don't catch spiders like that. :rolleyes: If they're under a glass you can still see them, and who in their right mind would want that? And a fucking piece of paper? Please, that would mean the eight hideous legs are separated from your body by some measly cellulose fibers not even a 10th of the thickness of one of those hideous legs!
*faints*
*uses smelling salts on WYTYG*
Oh please, it's not that bad. I've trapped one of those stray buggers who came literally wandering into my room through the open balcony door. While the bigger ones definitely send some chills down my spine, they are really interesting to look at. I wish I had had a glass at hand, instead I had to use a mug and couldn't see a damned thing! Besides, a quick 180° turn solves the problem of "only" having a sheet of paper in between.
Nu-uh, I'm peachy to flies and bugs and grasshoppers and what have you, but spiders have to die. That's what they get for being spiders. C'est la vie.
C'est la mort, eh?
Flies and wasps shouldn't show up in my room, they get "special" treatment. The rest will get get a ticket to freedom.
I usually tolerate spiders for either they're up there on the ceiling (jumping spiders mostly, really tiny and no webs, honestly cute guys) or in the corners where I don't bother them and they don't bother me and catch the stray fly ever once in a while. (No, that doesn't mean I don't clean my room - I just have the feeling that the more you clean it, the more they feel free to build their webs!).

There's bats that show up in the summer and fall around my town in Japan. I love to see them flying at dusk catching things.

Sadly, though, my female students do not share their AET's enthusiasm for small flying rodents and scream their heads off when I point them out (And they work out what I am saying).

I also have been inside a real bat cave out in the Great Basin. The bats were seriously cute, all nested upside down on the roof of the cave, sound asleep.

The bat guano though... THAT stinked!

Easy to notice - it was whizzing around a few feet above my head :)
(It's a running joke (http://botherer.cream.org/?p=595) from a UK magazine.)
Ah! Thanks for the link.
There's bats that show up in the summer and fall around my town in Japan. I love to see them flying at dusk catching things.

Sadly, though, my female students do not share their AET's enthusiasm for small flying rodents and scream their heads off when I point them out (And they work out what I am saying).

I also have been inside a real bat cave out in the Great Basin. The bats were seriously cute, all nested upside down on the roof of the cave, sound asleep.

The bat guano though... THAT stank!
Bats in flight are a beautiful sight indeed, for their flight patterns are very atypical compared to what we're used to in birds.
*shakes head sadly and fist at ignorant female students*

Bat guano - great fertilizer.

Commonly unknown fact: The first thing Bruce Wayne developed were neither his caped costume, nor the Batmobile - it was highly efficient nosefilterplugs! *nods* http://www.bebeguide.com/forums/images/smiles/knBatmanSmiley2.gif It's true! ;)

hmmm bt stories...
Once when I was in Kenya the building we were staying housed a colony of bat in the evens. Me, my brother et my cousin were staying in the attick, and the first evening, some of the bats decided to come down with us and out our window. very interesting experience. nothing like seeing a cloud of bats depart the building your staying in.

hmmm bt stories...
Once when I was in Kenya the building we were staying housed a colony of bat in the evens. Me, my brother et my cousin were staying in the attick, and the first evening, some of the bats decided to come down with us and out our window. very interesting experience. nothing like seeing a cloud of bats depart the building your staying in.
That's a very cool experience, I take it? I'd have enjoyed it, to say the least. :)

Okay, I'll hang myself upside down from the ceiling now and take a nap - feel free to share your bat-stories though, I'll get back to you. ;)