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Goingtobed
21-08-20, 21:09
I was in my backyard 2 days ago and I was standing in some foot long twigs and leaves and afterwords I noticed 2 small wounds on my leg next to each other and the first thing I thought of maybe it was a bat bite. I should mention that I didn't see or hear a bat but I'm concerned because there are 2 marks. They do kind of look like scratches. I spoke and sent pictures to the county epidemiologist and he said that he can't rule it out and if i think i was bitten, I should get the post exposure vaccine. I would be happy to provide pictures on this matter. Im very torn if I should get the PE or not....please, any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Goingtobed
22-08-20, 00:19
Anyway to post a picture on here?

Fishmanpa
22-08-20, 01:31
No need to post photos. There are no such things as ninja bats... :lac:

Positive thoughts

Jadex9
22-08-20, 02:51
I can tell you from very recent experience, youl most likely be turned away at the ER.

They want actual exposure, if you say you didn't see or hear a bat or another animal, you will be told to go home.

BlueIris
22-08-20, 08:02
You got scratched, you're fine, go about your business ;)

NoraB
22-08-20, 12:26
I was in my backyard 2 days ago and I was standing in some foot long twigs and leaves and afterwords I noticed 2 small wounds on my leg next to each other and the first thing I thought of maybe it was a bat bite. I should mention that I didn't see or hear a bat but I'm concerned because there are 2 marks. They do kind of look like scratches. I spoke and sent pictures to the county epidemiologist and he said that he can't rule it out and if i think i was bitten, I should get the post exposure vaccine. I would be happy to provide pictures on this matter. Im very torn if I should get the PE or not....please, any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

So you were standing in some foot long twigs and you noticed some scratches on your leg?

Goingtobed
22-08-20, 17:51
Ya i was standing in some branching weeds about a foot high. Im very worried a bat could have beem living in there and bit me. I have to wounds very close to each other. One is tiny like a pin head and the other is about 10 times the size but they are right near each other. What scares me the most now is the epidemiologist didn't rule out a bat bite and said that if I think i was bitten I should get the shots.....not sure what to do now.

Fishmanpa
22-08-20, 20:15
not sure what to do now.


There are no such things as ninja bats... :lac:

Positive thoughts

Jadex9
22-08-20, 23:01
Positive thoughts

At first I thought you were nuts Fish, but there really does seem to be an epidemic of Ninja Bats out there. I'm also a victim!

Lolalee1
23-08-20, 09:57
Sorry to ask Is it Bat Month again?

NoraB
23-08-20, 10:27
Ya i was standing in some branching weeds about a foot high. Im very worried a bat could have beem living in there and bit me. I have to wounds very close to each other. One is tiny like a pin head and the other is about 10 times the size but they are right near each other. What scares me the most now is the epidemiologist didn't rule out a bat bite and said that if I think i was bitten I should get the shots.....not sure what to do now.

But you said they look more like scratches?

Logically, if it was a bat bite - surely the holes would be a similar size?

I'm also wondering if the bat would stay where it was having been stepped on? Wouldn't a cranky bat might make itself known to you?

I wouldn't worry too much about the epidemiologist. You sent photographs and if he was to give you a definite no, and it was a bat bite, you could sue him innit. He's sat on the fence for sure!

panic_down_under
23-08-20, 12:31
Ya i was standing in some branching weeds about a foot high. Im very worried a bat could have beem living in there and bit me.

There are no ground dwelling bats. The closest is Mystacina tuberculata of New Zealand which spends part of the night on the ground, but roosts in trees during the day. The only other bats which can easily move around on the ground are the vampire bats of Central and South America. They are also nocturnal.

Goingtobed
23-08-20, 15:27
Thanks. I appreciate the reply. Im not concerned it was on thr floor as the wound is on my shin and I would have noticed it crawling up my leg. I'm more concerned that it was hanging out in the weeds and leaned over and bit me unnoticed. There is definitely not a very logical reason to think it was a bat bite but that is how anxiety works. The only reason I'm worried is because there are 2 marks. 1 is pin hole size and the other looks like a scratch of the top layer of skin and is about 10x the size of the other. The 2 wounds are about a 10th of a cm apart.

Fishmanpa
23-08-20, 15:53
Thanks. I appreciate the reply. Im not concerned it was on thr floor as the wound is on my shin and I would have noticed it crawling up my leg. I'm more concerned that it was hanging out in the weeds and leaned over and bit me unnoticed. There is definitely not a very logical reason to think it was a bat bite but that is how anxiety works. The only reason I'm worried is because there are 2 marks. 1 is pin hole size and the other looks like a scratch of the top layer of skin and is about 10x the size of the other. The 2 wounds are about a 10th of a cm apart.

With all due respect and knowing that to you, this seems very real, this is pure fantasy.

Positive thoughts

panic_down_under
24-08-20, 13:31
I'm more concerned that it was hanging out in the weeds and leaned over and bit me unnoticed.

That is not what bats in your part of the world do.


There is definitely not a very logical reason to think it was a bat bite but that is how anxiety works.

So what are you doing about the anxiety? I suggest this is a far bigger and potentially more serious problem than the one you believe you have.

Jadex9
25-08-20, 05:42
I'm going to suggest something to you, someone on here AND my doctor suggested it to me and it helped immensely..

Study bat's, look at everything about bat's in your area.

They truly are amazing critters, but their anatomy makes it hard for your scenario to be logical.

Almost every bat bite in our country has been the result of someone handling them, and the ones who were bit in their sleep had contact with the critters previously, and the bat was already displaying sick behavior, such as crawling on their bed or biting period.

Bats get the " dumb" type of rabies, meaning a sick bat will not roost ( hang upside down awaiting a victim) or fly, if they do fly it is very uncorodinated, they will thrash and land, and most of the bats in our nation can not take off from a grounded position.

Of all the bat's we have, our main worry is the Tri. Colored and the Silver Hair, two extremely reclusive bat's, they're tiny, but their bites will be felt! They also roost in attics and trees, and get this, of the rabies bites with no exposure, the rabies attributed to those two little critters could have come from an animal that ate them and passed in their rabies variant to the victim!

A Tri colored bat biting through jeans or a t-shirt is hard enough, a silver haired bat even when sick will avoid everything altogether and go die in solitude.

They do not hang out at ground level to strike.

So many things would have to be just right ( 1/1000 bat's have rabies. That rabid bat would then have to have been at your house xact location, at the exact time you walked by to deliver its bite, break skin, and still be mentally functional enough to bite) that the idea of rabies is wholly improbable.