I killed bats, man!

This morning I was woken up by something that felt like a bug crawling on my arm.

I shook my arm to shake it off and went back to sleep. Not long after that I felt it again, this time I got up. I heard squeaking creaking noises. Looking down between the bed frames I saw what looked like a frog hoping along.

It was a bat.

I got out of bed and looked around. I saw a dark spot near the wall. I thought that the bat had already flown out and landed there so I went back to the bed and heard the noise again.

There were two!

So I'm standing there in the dark, shirtless, thinking about how to catch these bats. From what I understand bats normally won't go near people unless they're sick with something like rabies. I can't leave the room, my wife is still sleeping unaware of what is with us, and I do not want to wake her up.

So I find a box, catch the bat by the wall. Then I search for another box to capture the one between the beds and try to think of how to do it.

I find a box and go to search for the bat. It has helped me though, it came up to where I could get it. I used the box to cover the bat for a bit, then yanked back sharply, which managed to pull the bat onto the floor and wake my wife.

The box I had was not one that I could close with the top against the floor covering the bat. I had already taken out a knife that has an led light on it. Siew turned the light on, I cut the top of the box off and slid that under the box to trap the bat.

Then I took the boxes downstairs and taped them shut.

Here's where I was not sure what to do. One bat was smaller than the other so I'm sure it was a parent and child. We have had problems with bats living in one of the holes in the brick work above our room. I am sure these bats are from said holes. If I destroy the bats, then I remove at least some of these pests that are causing a mess, and potential hazard to our health.

So I decided to kill them.

I have never killed another mammal on my own. Seriously. I've been hunting, but I didn't fire any shots. I was a beater (someone who tries to scare prey up so that the hunter can take a shot, a common job for a kid). Kind of strange to think about now.

There was only one way I could think of. Crush the boxes with their contents. So I took them outside and determined where in the boxes they were and stomped on them. I didn't want to make it painful for them, so I stomped hard and fast.

Pests now removed I returned upstairs. Took my shirt off and turned back to go to bed. There on the floor was part of one of the bats' wing!

I cleaned that up and then crawled back into bed. I found that I am now too awake to sleep. Siew's still sleepy so she's trying to sleep now.

I hope that is enough to finish that particular roost. I don't like bats in homes at all. It is really an annoyance and can be dangerous to your health. Bats in the wild, however, are wonderfully important.