A Friday afternoon wouldn’t be normal without something out of the norm happening right before closing time. A couple of weeks ago, I got a frantic call from Special Collections informing me that they had an unusual critter stuck in one of their sticky traps. As the resident “bug lady,” I grabbed a plastic bag, and our volunteer Martha grabbed some latex gloves. Then we made our way over to see what lovely creature was paying our co-workers a visit.
A bat! Not the typical small spider or lady beetle that I occasionally find in my sticky traps.
According to the Iowa State Extension website, Iowa bats are the size of a mouse or smaller and weigh about half an ounce. Iowa bats feast on insects – they can eat up to 2000 mosquitoes on a warm summer night! I can only guess that this fellow managed to get in and needed some chow to settle a rumbling tummy.
We are unsure how he made his way into Special Collections, but I have come to find out that he is not the first bat to find its way into the Library. There have also been reports of the occasional bat in our loading dock area. We all know that pests in libraries are not a good thing, but I will confess that he was kind of cute and a nice change from the usual bugs, although I hope his buddies keep their distance!
February 14, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Wait, you need to tell us the rest of the story. Was it still alive? If so, were you able to free it? I normally don’t care about what gets trapped in our insect traps (insects, spiders, etc.) but I would be heartbroken for a beneficial critter like a bat to get stuck.
BTW, I’ve evicted two birds and one snake from our library. Both birds found their way into the lab (the hazards of being next to the loading dock). The first one, a cardinal, led to one of our mottos: When you leave your bench, cover your work. $&*# happens.
February 14, 2012 at 1:38 pm
It was not alive when we found it – I can’t imagine how I would have reacted if it would have been alive. Wow! Birds & a snake! I definitely would freak out if I came across a snake in the Library!
February 15, 2012 at 8:40 am
It was a small garter snake keeping warm in a light fixture. I think the squiggling live thing in the ceiling was more frightening for some of the librarians than it was for me.
Birds are generally easy to get out of buildings since they tend to fly towards light. The trick is to darken everything except one doorway or exit, and sort of usher them towards it.
Poor little bat. Maybe you can find the entry point for these and get it closed up. One seems like an anomaly, more than one seems like a problem.