Our "bird" problem.

So remember when I mentioned bats the other day???

A few weeks ago I had a baby shower for my sister-in-law.  I went up to the attic to get out my antique baby bottles, as  I pulled down the ladder and saw a few droppings so I figured we had a mouse.  As I was getting the bottles out I looked up and saw bats.  EEEEWWWWWW!!!

So now what?!?!?!

After the shower I googled how to get ride of bats.  Did you know that they are protected?  I remember seeing that on Billy the Exterminator.  We called a company that said they took care of this and they said it would cost anywhere from $600 to $2600 to have them come out.  WHAT!!!!  Matt told them he would take care of it himself.  Of course they said that it took a professional and that they didn't think he could do it.

I googled some more and then came across the same method I saw on Billy. You hang bird netting on the house and they come out but can't go back in.  You leave it up for a few days and then seal up the places they were coming from.

We get all the supplies we need. We tell the kids that we have a problem with birds. After talking to a few people, we find out that this little problem is more common than you'd think.  People just don't talk about it.  I guess it's like that head lice thing and you don't want others to know. People think that if you have bats than you must have a dirty house. I don't have a dirty house.  Ok so maybe a little messy at times but I don't really know anyone who's house is perfect all the time.

So Friday came.  My parents took the kids overnight.  We hung the bird netting.  We got some beer.  Called some friends.  We watched as the bats came out.  We then went to the bar with said friends.  At the bar we talk to more people who have had trouble with bats.

After 4 days we start to seal the cracks that they were coming from.  Our house is very old and we find out that the metal roof that we just paid someone to fix last year was bad.  I guess he never really fixed it, he just painted it.  UGH! 

Anyhow...this sealing the cracks was way more work now because a lot of the wood was rotting.  We rented an arial lift, and started to replace the facia (not sure how to spell that) boards.  The lift was a piece of crap and should NOT have been for rent.  Matt got jolted by some bare wires and the stupid battery would not take a charge!  When we took it back the guy only charged us $70 instead of $200.  Just a heads up here but don't ever rent anything from A&E on Lewis.  We only got half the house done and then the rain started.  It then rained the rest of the week that we had to finish our little project.  Yup we still have half the house lined with netting.  I don't care how it looks I just don't want those critters back in the attic.

I still haven't went to check my stuff thats up there.  Most of my little treasures that I found in my house are stored there.  I have Better Homes and Gardens from the 60's.  There is vintage baby clothes, old valentine cards from the 30's, old books and more in the attic.  We have two attics.  The one the bats were in was the one that we just finished about 7 years ago.  We opened it up when we updated the big part of the house.  I will be heart broke if my treasures are ruined :(

On a good note the bats are gone!  I no longer have to worry about them.  Of course there was one night that I didn't sleep at all because of them.  They never got in the house but I was so worried that they would.  I kept thinking of a blog that I follow.  The women who writes it had a racoon in her attic and she wrote about how she couldn't sleep because she was afraid it would fall though the ceiling.        

Oh and one more thing, the other day I was folding clothes and noticed that the tee shirt that I got from Mammoth Caves had a bat on it.  I never even saw that when I bought it and I've worn it a few times.  I saw it and started laughing like a crazy person.   Not sure if I'll be wearing that shirt anymore!  :)