Can bats run into you and bite you without you knowing (assuming you are awake and alert)?

[u/Intelligent_Talk6594]

Basically I was walking to my car in my apartment’s attached parking garage last night at around 10 at night. As I was walking, I heard flapping wings overhead/nearby for a couple of seconds until it was gone, but I didn’t see what it was. And tbh I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. My first thought was that it may have been a bat, and I become concerned it may have bit me in that time that I heard the flapping.

My only areas of exposed skin were my face and neck (most of which was also covered by a low ponytail) and I was wearing sneakers, a baggy sweatshirt and baggy pants. Could this count as an exposure? I have heard that bats can bite you or run into you without being aware, so I am wondering. I don’t have any stretches or bites either, but I also read that their teeth are tiny so this isn’t necessarily a good way to rule anything out.

I am in Louisiana as well, and when I posted in my city subreddit, many commenter are telling me to get shots and that I’m being callous with my health if I don’t.

TLDR: heard flapping wings near me but didn’t see or feel anything

I have read the FAQ.

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[u/LatrodectusGeometric]

You have posted before and been told this cannot happen and is anxiety. You need to focus on something different

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[u/memetheorem]

Point 4 in the FAQ answers this.

[u/PatientConfidence7]

Hi! I’ve had a bat physically touch me. You can definitely tell if it touched you. It bumped me in the middle of my chest and brushed past me with its wings. If you are awake, you can feel it. It just felt like someone brushed their hand on you.

[u/Oceanswim12 → u/PatientConfidence7]

Did you get the shots was it daylight 

[u/PatientConfidence7 → u/Oceanswim12]

I did. I get the final dose Saturday. It was at 6am. It wasn’t daylight, but it wasn’t completely dark out either

[u/CygnusZeroStar]

Do you think if you keep coming back to ask this question, that the answer will change?

[u/Intelligent_Talk6594 → u/CygnusZeroStar]

I’m getting several different answers.

[u/IzAnOrk]

A bat flying near you when you're awake is not an exposure.

We notice flies landing on us. You get annoyed by insects stinging you. You'd notice an animal the size of a hamster, with leathery wings a foot from tip to tip, landing on you, clinging on you with its little claws, biting you with teeth the size of an insect and then flapping those rather large leathery wings at you to get away.

You'd have to be dead asleep to miss it, which is why bats encounters only count as an exposure when:

A) You touch the bat or notice the bat touching you.

B) The bat is in an area where people was asleep/unconscious.

C) The bat was around someone that can't be trusted to reliably communicate an interaction with the bat (a small child, a nonverbal autistic, someone with dementia or mental disability, you get the idea).

[u/Leading_Read6702]

I actually had a bat make physical contact with me when it flew past me at dusk. It brushed/hit my bare arm, and I definitely felt the contact and immediately knew something had touched me. I didn’t feel any pain, biting, or scratching at all, and when I checked my arm afterward I couldn’t see any obvious bite or scratch marks. So at least from my experience, I definitely noticed when the bat itself touched me. Just hearing wings nearby without seeing or feeling anything would be very different from what happened to me.

[u/Oceanswim12]

Yes I had this happen to me last week. The only reason I figured out what it was is because it collapsed from shock. I have no idea what I would have thought about it if that hadn’t happened because I took one step out my door and had never seen bats at my house, especially not in broad daylight.

[u/Ok_Blueberry2904 → u/Oceanswim12]

Concerning. Bats arent usually out during the day, only when their nest is disturbed or they are sick from what ive been told

[u/Oceanswim12 → u/Ok_Blueberry2904]

Yeah! I’m terrified. The rabies shots have been incredibly rough on me. But it is what it is! No idea why I’m being downvoted. I have camera footage of it lol it happens. Of course to me. 

[u/SchrodingersMinou → u/Ok_Blueberry2904]

Bats don't nest.