Thread by @SaltySicky

A real life #NYC horror story. 🧵

I was watching Netflix with my cat laying on the couch. All of a sudden he got up, eyes wide and ears forward, and ran over to the wall. 1/

Now this cat is not a playful guy. He's a couch potato. So I paused the TV and followed him. He was staring at a spot on the wall, then up slowly moved his gaze toward the ceiling. Then he started walking around my apartment, looking up and chirping. 2/

Then I heard scratching noises. 3/

Something was clanking around on the inside of my metal light fixtures and walking around inside the ceiling. (It's important to note that I live on the top floor, so no one is above me.) 4/

I was fully prepared to move out at this point.

I gathered a neighbor and we went onto the roof to see if rats were scurrying around up there. They're all over the sidewalks and streets outside my building, so this seemed plausible. 5/

Nothing was up there, but we noticed a bunch of vents that had no mesh or grates on them. Not a good sign. 6/

So we came back into my apartment and stood silently to see if we could hear the noise again.

I heard it and said, "RIGHT HERE. Can you hear that?!" The neighbor couldn't, but we were right next to my furnace closet so he opened the door. 7/

What was clinging to the wall? 8/

A FREAKING BAT. 9/

Now, my super is absolutely not going to deal with this at 9pm. He wouldn't deal with it at 9am if we're being honest. I waited 4 months for him to fix a light.

So we went for it. 10/

I could only find one glove so I put it on one hand and put a sock on the other, then tried to gently grab the bat using some old t-shirts. 11/

When I grabbed it, it screamed. I screamed back. 12/

Video description: Me, a white person in checkered boxer shorts and a sweatshirt, standing in the open doorway and shutting the door promptly after screaming. 13/

We switched to a bowl and piece of cardboard technique. 14/

And voilà! We got it! (Note the one glove, one sock combo.) 15/

We took the bat across the street to the park and let it go.

It flew into a tree.

I'm not sleeping tonight.

The end.

To everyone talking about rabies: I'm not worried since the bat was never loose in my apartment. It was in a utility closet that is sealed from the rest of the unit. No bites or exposed skin during the capture.

NY Health guidelines: health.ny.gov/diseases/commu…

Folks still on this train: I assessed my risk in line with medical guidance & based on additional info not shared in this Twitter thread. I have a full healthcare team. We've got it. Continued unsolicited medical advice from strangers on the internet is unhelpful & unwelcome. ✌🏼

And yes, Hopper is a very good, smart kitty. He got plenty of extra treats and love yesterday, plus some nasty wet food today. He purred while eating it.

Hopper has wobbly cat syndrome (cerebellar hypoplasia) so he doesn't really catch critters, but he's good at locating them.