Are you scared of bats?

Love them! They are so cute - well the ones we have around in the evening. Mind you I wouldn't fancy one flitting inside the house; I'm not sure how easy they would be to catch in those circumstances

The "bats get in your hair " myth is an old wives tale - they don't unless you leap around screeching and jump up and down flapping your hands about so they don't know where to go to get round you. They'd hate that as much as you would.

If you are moving reasonably slowly (or even better, keeping still and quiet) they detect where you are and whether you are likely to move into their path, and can navigate safely round you and escape to safety to somewhere that great big human isn't running about in a panic and screaming so loud they can't hear their radar.

In the UK, fruit bats in great swarms would be a novelty. We have several varieties of (pretty small) bats, but I don't think fruit bats are among them (or those vampire bats in ?South America? that film-makers love to put into horror films)

You are right that rabies is not common, but bats do get it occasionally, so if you absolutely have to handle one, wear gloves and wrap it in a towel to lift it. Be aware that it is illegal to interfere with a bat roosting site, particularly a nursery roost.

I’m not scared of them as such but I wouldn’t want one too near me. We once had bats in a hotel room - the manager said he’d never been asked to evict a bat before.

My dd has bats living in her loft. They occasionally get lost and come into the house and fly around. They found one asleep on their linen bin. Her Dh picked it up and put it outside and it didn’t ‘bat’ an eyelid, just carried on sleeping! It flew away later.

I’m not scared of them but am concerned about the link with rabies, albeit rare. I love watching the way that they follow the same flight path. I saw a programme about them that showed what wonderful mothers they are and how amazing it is that they find their babies again after going out at night feeding. I think I would freak out if I found one in the house though. I was doing some tidying up in the loft a few years ago. I can’t get up very easily ( knees) and saw what looked like a bat so I panicked; turned out it was a plastic toy belonging to the children. I just kept thinking to myself ‘in the loft no one can hear you scream’. They are amazing creatures, though.

We visited an old church in Yorkshire once and there were bats in the rafters. Lovely to watch but there was poo all over the floor and the smell was horrible. I'm not scared of them but not very keen on it when they're flying around.

Oh, aggie, that sounds awful.
Shudder!

I wouldn't want one in my hair, or flapping around my face; but otherwise I like them. I can see them zipping about on summer evenings if I sit in the garden, and they are interesting to watch.

My sister once found one on her coat. She thought it was a brooch, went to straighten it and it flew away! She lives in the country, so is used to critters, but it gave her a fright

We get a lot around the front of our house, I like to stand and watch them swooping, hoping one will land on me, but knowing they never will.

Terrified, I was having a bath , rare treat in the morning as I had a newborn and a toddler , I got out , reached for the towel on the windowsill , it was right beside the shutters
There was something rough on my back , looked at the towel ! ! There was a bat ! I had been drying my back with a bat !!
I threw the towel out the window sobbing , I couldn’t scream in case I woke the kids
Seems the bats were in the roof space and the old walls had lots of holes so the poor bat had fallen down into the bathroom , we got that hole fixed , but closed all the windows before dusk so we didn’t get any more flying in

From a distance, yes, but not close to. We had them in a loft space once and could hear them scrabbling around.
I probably have an irrational fear.

I'm not keen on fruit bats in great swarms.

Fabulous, Flo122

I've always loved them. Used to see a lot when I was a child. We lived out in the country and were lucky enough to have a bat city there!

I was taken to Chester Zoo a few years ago. Not a huge fan of zoos but it was a gift. The bat cave was fabulous. And we had it all to ourselves! Stayed in there chatting to a member of staff for about half an hour.

No, I absolutely love them and could watch them for hours.

My most favourite memory of my Dad is seeing him at the top of the stairs with a towel over his head and a tennis racquet in his hand ….there was a bat in the house! Nanny told him if he got a bat in his hair he would have have his hair cut off. Makes me laugh out loud fifty years later! The bat left safely through a window.

One of my neighbours has bats in her loft, I love watching them come out in the evening, they fly across the road to a group of trees.