Massachusetts College Student Looks In His Box Of Motts Fruit Snacks. What’s Inside Has People Urging Him To Seek Medical Care

Living in a city, it’s easy to forget that you’re still technically at risk of animal attacks.

While rare, human/animal encounters in urban environments can produce dangerous results. For example, in 2024, it was reported that an NFL player visiting Las Vegas was attacked by a wild coyote. The next year, a town in California reported that residents were repeatedly attacked by a rampaging squirrel.

You might think that being inside would protect you from animal-related danger. This isn’t always the case, as one TikTok user recently learned.

What Did This College Student Find In His Fruit Snacks?

In a video with over 1.6 million views, TikTok user Tony Casciano (@cashsecrettt) shows himself hovering over a box of fruit snacks.

“A bat somehow flew into my dorm and landed in my fruit snack box. who did this,” he writes in the video’s overlay text.

As the video continues, he points the camera into the fruit snack box. Inside is a bat, which does not appear to be moving.

“This is fully serious not a joke,” he adds in the caption.

Why Are People Freaking Out?

In the comments section, users advised Casciano to seek medical attention immediately. The reason? According to these users, a rabid bat can bite you without you even realizing it.

“Be careful, a bat flew into my apartment and bit my roommate twice while she was asleep and she didn’t know,” said a user. “i convinced her to go to the hospital and they found 2 bites and she ended up having to get multiple rounds of rabies shots over a month. be careful.”

“Erm not to alarm but u might wanna go get a rabies shot and have that bat tested for rabies. even if u think it didn’t bite u better be safe than sorry,” advised another.

“Yesss cuz u don’t always feel a bat bite & rabies is fatal but preventable if u catch it BEFORE symptoms!!!” exclaimed a third.

Is This True?

Sort of—but that doesn’t mean that you can assume you didn’t get bitten by a bat just because you didn’t feel it.

First, it should be noted that bat bites are incredibly rare. Bats tend to avoid humans, meaning that you could live for years in a building with bats and never come into direct contact.

Additionally, contrary to popular belief, you will generally feel a bat’s bite. While bats have small teeth, they’re pretty sharp. Consequently, most people who are bitten by a bat are aware that it happened.

Finally, while bats are among the most common ways that humans get rabies, that doesn’t mean that every bat has it—and that even coming into brief contact with a bat will pass the disease onto you. In fact, from 2015 to 2024, only 17 cases of human rabies were documented. Overall, just 5% to 10% of bats are rabid.

In short, just because you saw a bat, that doesn’t mean that you’ve definitely been bitten and that you’re sure to develop rabies. Still, there are a few steps that one should follow to ensure their safety.

What Should You Do If You See A Bat?

While most people will feel a bat’s bite, there’s always a chance that you didn’t feel the bat bite or that the bat bit you in your sleep. Additionally, if you’ve been in any kind of contact with a bat, it’s important to go through proper rabies treatments just to be safe.

First, if you have been bitten, you should wash the area with soap and water. Second, if possible without approaching it, safely contain the bat. For example, if it’s in a single room, close the door to that room and disallow others from entering. After that, call your local animal control so that the bat can be captured and tested for rabies.

As far as the steps one should take after bat exposure, it’s pretty simple. You should go to the doctor as soon as possible and begin a regular course of rabies treatments. This typically involves four vaccines over a two-week period. In many countries, this is low cost or free; in the United States, it can cost between $3,000 and $7,000.

Fortunately, it seems Casciano followed this advice. In subsequent posts, he revealed that he received rabies shots. He also said that the bat is now under the care of animal control.

BroBible reached out to Casciano via email.