Dinah Robinson
My home is so pollinator-friendly, a bat had decided to overwinter in the cold unfinished basement.
There’s a cave-like crawlspace section that used to be a coal chute, where he was likely roosting. Old brick and mortar foundations always have holes and the unfinished basement is normally below 10 degrees in the winter. Perfect habitat for a bat.
One evening at dusk, I didn’t have the lights on yet. The atmosphere was perfect for nighttime pollinators. It had been unseasonably warm for a few days in a row and the bat probably thought it was spring.
Suddenly, my cat was going wild as a big brown bat swooped around the living room while making chirping sounds. After locking the cat in a bedroom, I attempted to catch the bat. It was very agile and not interested in being captured. It found a hiding place and stayed put for the rest of the evening.
I reached out to Erin Stukenholtz, my bat research contact at Carleton University, who was able to provide guidance. A bat in the house during winter can be a tricky situation. It will die if you let it outside.
She suggested that we try to catch the bat and put it in a box with a towel secured on the side so it can hang. She also suggested taking it to a rehabilitation centre. They would be better equipped for this situation and are vaccinated to handle them. While rabies is rare, it does happen.
I did not manage to catch our bat. He was hiding on the back of a tall bookcase and I couldn’t reach the far corner, where he was hanging. He was gone by the next morning. I suspect he went back to the basement.
I left the basement door open overnight and I created a bigger entrance to the crawlspace. It’s very much like a cave and I hope he went back to roost there for the rest of the winter. Unfortunately, 50 percent of young bats do not make it through their first winter.