UPDATE:

A dispatcher at the University Police Department confirmed there was a bat found in Kreischer Batchelder Hall Sunday night.

The police responded to the call but did not remove the bat from the building, the dispatcher said.

“By the time we got there apparently people who lived there had removed it,” the dispatcher said.

There was also a bat found in Kreischer Darrow Hall during the weekend, said the University police department.

University works to prevent pest entry in residence halls, student rooms

After fall move-in, students aren’t always the only new residents on campus. Bats sometimes move into residence halls too.

“We suspect that a lot of [the bats] had to do with move-in and doors being propped open,” said David Crandall, University safety and health inspector.

Sarah Waters, director of Residence Life, said there are many ways bats could gain access to buildings.

“Open doors, open windows, vents around the buildings would be a way that a bat would typically get into a building,” Waters said. “The bats are moving toward sound, and so they get into the building.”

Recently, sophomore Kristi Kopaniasz found a bat in her room in Kreischer Batchelder Hall.

Kopaniasz is a Resident Advisor and found the bat when she got home in the early morning hours Aug. 21, the weekend of move-in.

She left her room and went downstairs where the RA on duty called the University Police Department, who called back approximately 30 minutes later with news that they were unable to respond to her call due to more important calls, Kopaniasz said.

So Kopaniasz and another RA in the building took matters into their own hands and went to get the bat out of her room themselves. They coaxed the bat out the window, and Kopaniasz ended up sleeping in another room in her hall but went back the next day to look for how the bat had come in.

“When I was in the process of cleaning my room, I found a hole underneath my heating duct in the corner of my room,” Kopaniasz said. “When I looked on the outside there was a hole in the brickwork.”

The hole has since been repaired, and Crandall said he doesn’t know if the hole is where the bat came in or not.

“[The residents think] it came from their heater, and I’m not sure that it did, I didn’t find any evidence that it did,” Crandall said.

When the University built Kreischer, it put hot water pipes through all the walls, Crandall said. He said the holes are three-inches wide for half-inch pipes, but he will fill up the holes if they suspect the bats are coming in through them.

“I don’t want this becoming a myth, I don’t want the idea that there are bats coming out of the heaters too widespread because I’m not sure that’s absolutely true,” Crandall said. “But I can’t deny it either.”

Waters said the buildings are inspected for holes such as these but that students should inspect the rooms themselves as well.

If faculty or students find or even just suspect pests such as bats in a building, they can call maintenance or put in a work order, Crandall said.

“The big thing is, what we tell people is try to remember where [the bat] is, try to isolate it to one room if they can,” Crandall said. “There’s a lot of myths about bats and yes, they do carry diseases, but no, they don’t attack people, normally.”

Last year there were 24 bat calls on campus, Waters said. Crandall is working with representatives from Residence Life to prevent bats in the future.

“We’re trying to come up with a bat solution strategy,” Crandall said. “We don’t think there’s just one way bats are getting in the building.”

The problem should decrease with the temperature, according to Crandall.

“The thing about bats is once the temperature’s dropped to about 55 degrees at night, their main food supply disappears, so they tend to either migrate or hibernate.”