I know there's bats around....while renovating the house, 2 managed to get in. I took them outside when my scaredy cat carpenter pointed them out to me the minute I walked in. Does anyone have plans to build a box for them or know of a good site or place to purchase one? If you have one, give me all your experiences with them.
Thanks,
Terry
Bats
Equilibrium
May 24, 2006
Oh! Oh! Oh! This is right up my alley. What exactly do you want to know about bats indigenous to our area! I think I posted in another thread about this. Lemme go see if I can find what I typed to save time and cut and past it here.
Here's a site for you to enjoy and read to your heart's content while I find that thread-
http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp
And here's a cut and paste from this site-
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biodiversity/tchankoshvili.html
Quoting:
Protecting Bats from Extinction
By Nick Tchankoshvili
Introduction
Bats are not only fascinating mammals but they are of great importance in nature. Bats have been on this planet for over 50-60 million years. There are between 950 to 1,000 species, living on all continents except Antarctica. The small microbats eat mostly insects whereas megabats, the larger-sized variety, feed mostly on fruit. Sometimes, both small and large species eat flowers and drink nectar.
In the last few decades bat populations have been declining at alarming rates worldwide. Bats remain the most endangered land mammal in the United States.1 The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources listed 53 bat species as endangered and at least that many more species at risk in 2000.
Bats on the decline
Humans are the main cause of bat declines and extinctions. The causes for decline include:
-habitat loss through such activities as deforestation, elimination of foraging areas, roost and cave destruction
-increased use of pesticides, both in agriculture and in the treatment of building materials against pests, which in turn poisons the bats who consume them.
-disturbance of colonies, particularly by people exploring caves in winter; human presence disturbs hybernating bats, causing bats to lose their energy and leading to exhaustion and death
-extermination -- millions of bats are killed due to myths, superstitions and misinformation
-hunting -- a large number of bats are used for commercial purposes, such as sales to museums, biomedical research institutions, or in some Third World countries as food
Reasons for protection
Balance in nature
Bats are the primary predators of night-flying insects, playing a vital role in maintaining their balance in nature. One bat eats 1/3 of its body weight and is able to catch 600 mosquitoes in one hour. Their instinct to live in colonies ensures that large numbers of bats will live or relocate to areas where there are lots of insects, keeping insect populations down. And different bat species hunt at different heights, preying on different kinds of insects. The big-sized bats eat various moths and worms that are harmful to agriculture and forestry. The small-sized bats eat mosquitoes and other double-winged insects - - carriers of diseases such as malaria and leischnamia. This is one reason to protect all species of bats.
Helping the world's flora
Bats that eat fruit or flowers disperse seeds and pollinate flowers of more than 500 species of tropical trees and shrubs. With their help, humans are supplied with a large crop of bananas, cashews, avocados, balsa wood and tequila. If it were not for bats, the harvest of such tropical fruit as bananas and pineapples would decrease by 60%.
Natural fertilizers
Guano, or bat droppings, is the highest quality natural fertilizer. It contains much more nitrogen and phosphate than other natural or artificial fertilizers. In addition, guano in caves supports entire ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying industrial wastes and producing antibiotics.
Equilibrium
May 24, 2006
Bingo! I found what I wrote!
Quoting:
There is a book out there that may be of interest. The Bat House Builder's Handbook by Merlin D. Tuttle and Donna L. Hensley. It provides wonderful information and is most probably available at a local library
I'll add to this based on my personal experiences and based on using a bat house design shared with me by a "batter" from the Mid West. The completed product is approximately 3' high by about 2.5' wide and is spacious enough to accommodate a colony and I am more than happy to share photos and blueprints with any one who is interested. In my area we have little brown bats and big brown bats which are much more likely to use bat houses than many of the species of bats down south. The little brown bats and the big brown bats especially like it up under the eaves. They are also two of the species most likely to occupy buildings.
For anyone not interested in constructing their own bat house from plans, Here's a great design that has expansion potential and the owner of the company is extremely well versed on areas of concern to batters and he will spend time with anyone who contacts him-
http://www.maberrybat.com/belfrytowerext.htm
1) The primary function of a bat house is as a nursery/incubator. This is why they need to be exposed to sunlight in order to create the internal temperatures needed for the young to survive (over 100 degrees for many species).
2) In our area, painting the bat house is recommended to help to create the proper temperatures within the bat house. Here, we use a knights armor gray outdoor latex to better absorb heat. Lightest grays or reflective off whites for southern areas, medium steel grays or beiges and tans for my Midwestern area, and dark grays and browns for northern climes.
3) Regardless of what blueprints one uses, please select wood that is not treated to avoid birth defects. We used untreated oak for the outer and on the inside we used untreated rough sawn cedar.
4) The inner "cells" of bat houses should have horizontal "steps" to be able to give the little ones a helping step up or down. We achieved this by using rough sawn cedar but added horrizontal incisions by using a dremel tool. Others have used V gauges while others have used hardwire cloth. A few have used metal grates however this might not be a great idea as If a little bat gets his toe stuck he might not be able to chew his toe off to free himself if a galvanized grate was used.
5) Idealistically, bat houses should be mounted under the eaves at an elevation of around 25' preferably facing sw or se. Try to avoid a full southern exposure as we don;t want to cook them. The height at which a bat house is optimally installed will vary from species to species but about 20’ seems to be the minimum for bats native to my region as a 20 foot clearance underneath is required in order for them to release from their upside-down position, unfurl their wings, and to attain lift. Bats need a little "swoop" space to be able to take off, but if the area below the house is clear (no shrubbery, power lines, etc), the conventional wisdom is the higher the better.
6) Bat houses mounted in trees are virtually never occupied because bats don't like to have to negotiate branches and things when they're flying in.
7) In my area, bats will generally occupy them as fast as you can make them and install them. They are migratory and in the spring they seem to be always be on the look out for suitable areas in which to raise their young. We have several different types of bats and the bat houses fill up quick due to loss of habitat. This being said, not all areas are like mine. One could conceivably do everything by the book and based on the species present in their area, a bat house could conceivably take several years to be occupied... if at all.
8) Bats are very tidy so one does not need to take a bat house down and clean it as one would a Martin house. This means that one does not need a pole that comes down. Bats are extremely fastidious housekeepers.
9) Never had occasion to use bat baits however I am told they were ineffective by those experimenting with the use of them.
10) I do not have a landing pad under any of our bat houses and they are being used. I'm thinking this is going to be dependent on species and a landing pad should be added to any bat house to better insure occupancy.
11) Bats do make a sizeable dent in the mosquito populations which is a bonus in my area where spraying is disallowed.
Best wishes to anyone out there trying to create habitat for these little critters!
Equilibrium
May 24, 2006
Missed this-
Quoting:
I'd like to share this with anyone reading this thread, it was sent to me by a friend-
There are more species of bats in the world than any other type of mammal - over 1000 species. Nearly 1/4 of the world's mammal species are bats.
The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny
The tiny wooly bats of West Africa lived in the large webs of colonial spiders
There are frog-eating bats, and bat-eating frogs
One little brown bat can catch 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in one hour
Seed production in the agave plants from which tequila is made drops to 1/3,000th of normal without bat pollinators
Wild specimens of important agricultural plants such as bananas, breadfruit, mangos, cashews, dates and figs rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal
Bats are the slowest reproducing mammals on earth for their size, making them exceptionally vulnerable to extinction
More than half of American bat species are in severe decline or already listed as endangered
Equilibrium
May 24, 2006
There you go Terry! Bat on! And, I have the blueprints to the bat boxes that accommodate the species native to our region.
oh oh oh!!! Thank you!! I want a copy of those blueprints!! I'm wondering though...the best spot on this house will fast west. Good?? Oh and the bats I removed from in here were little brown ones. Maybe darker on the underside? It was about all I could do to gently get a hold of them to take outside.....I don't remember a whole lot about them. Was a little afraid it would try and fly away and get stuck in my hair...lol.....Tony (carpenter) wasn't helping me much by his comments......
Equilibrium
May 24, 2006
No, west is not ideal but try it out anyway if you can hang it on your home at a height that is not going to be shielded by the roof. It can't hurt and remember, bats do really get into inadequately sealed attics so what the heck. If all the other requirements are met, you might just get a few happy visitors. Please know that this is fact, "The primary function of a bat house is as a nursery/incubator. This is why they need to be exposed to sunlight in order to create the internal temperatures needed for the young to survive (over 100 degrees for many species)."
Here is a photo of bathouses before they were painted. These are much bigger than what you might imagine. They are every bit the dimensions I mentioned above. The photo is not showing their true size.
Equilibrium
May 24, 2006
You have blueprints on the way to you. Bat on! Oh, the species of bat you described is probably the Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus). It is migratory unlike the Big Brown Bat that is also in our region. Good for you for what you did. I'm sure you know by now they wouldn't have gotten stuck in your hair but all the horror flicks of Hollywood rush at you when your adrenaline is pumping and it is often hard to separate fact from fiction. This about it, Hollywood never allowed facts to get in the way of a good flick. Documentaries just don't sell nearly as well as a good knuckle clenching thriller that makes your heart race comparatively speaking. This repeated bombardment of our senses in which bats have been dipicted as being evil and blood sucking resulted in a climate of fear and superstition associated with them and now many are threatened or endangered in part due to the bad press they recieved and continue to receive from the big screen. Same thing happened to the Wolf.
I've checked the attic and there is no sign of them being in there. That isn't how they were getting in. I gutted kitchen and 1/2 bath off of it and when I did, I took out the vent for the range hood. It had a floppy door on it....we figured they came in that way. The second time there was a bat in here, you should have seem the plumber following me...he came in at the same time. I put on a pair of leather gloves and ever so gently got a hold of the bat, turned and walked down the back staircase where I went outside and laid him on the ground. The plumber thought I was going to kill it! Typical female I am not....according to him anyway.
Hey, you got them all made up, why don't I just buy one from you? (hint hint)
Here's a pic of the back of the house, facing west, where I was planning on putting it. Good?
Could I get a copy of those plans, too? I live in Mosquito Central and also have a beautiful west-facing wall that could use a big bat house.
Equilibrium
May 25, 2006
Hey Terry, those bathouse went to a public park where they were having issues with bats in their belfry so to speak. They were a donation. I have some here but they are mine mine mine and you can't have them you will have to slave away making your own. Ha! Work woman! Work!
Hey BackyardZoo, D-mail me your e-mail address and I will forward them to you. I have never figured out how to get those types of forwarded e-mails with zip files and all this other stuff into D-Mails but I can forward these files to you in an e-mail attachment. Good for you for adding some bat boxes.
We have lots of bats... but no bat houses.
I really think the bats do help keep the mosquito population numbers down.
I've printed off the blueprints...now to just get my parents to actually stay in IL long enough to get my dad to build one with me. Nice father - daughter project, don't ya think?
Equilibrium
May 26, 2006
Yes Terry, nice father/daughter project!
Hey Joe, are you bathouseless? Poor Joe!
Hi Equilibrium,how have you been? I have Little brown bats...I live in the sticks and they fly around my vapor light,every night all summer long...do you know where they winter? do they winter here or migrate? if they winter here what would they eat?
Hi: We live in the woods in TN and have bats around at any time of the year when it is warm enough. We have a long driveway and when my husband and I walk up to shut the gate at sundown, we usually have a bat or 2 following us. They are eating the bugs which fly around in the summer. We always look for them and it is a joy and blessing to see them late in the evening. I am not the usual "female" either. I like all manner of animals and they only things I am leary of are copperheads and mocs and spiders. Don't kill them tho. We have king snakes living in the woods and they take care of the copperheads.
Equilibrium
May 27, 2006
Hey Jody! How be you! The Little Brown Bats migrate. The Big Brown Bats stick around all year round. The Little Brown Bats are in greatest need of incubators (bathouses) on our area.
Big Brown Bats have no need to eat during the winter months when they are hibernating. If we do get a warm spell, they might emerge and fly around to seek water, defecate, and maybe mate but that's about it. They are exclusively insectivorous.
If at all possible, you might want to consider turning off your vapor light so it doesn't burn all night long. Maybe you could put it on a timer to go off at around 11pm.
It's like a regular street light the electric company puts on everyones property out here in the boonie's...I don't know if I want it to go out at night...I'm all by myself out here until Mom builds up here in a few months...
Equilibrium
May 27, 2006
Well, maybe when your Mom moves up your way. Those darn porch and yard lights really mess with critters. We've gone to motion sensor lighting for around our home. Same deal with the yard lights. Tha tmight be another possibility for you sometime down the road.
Yes that would be good and I want to talk Mom into putting in Wind electricity...if she gets enough from her inheritance..lol..
Terryr, you asked about any experience with bat houses? When we lived in the village there were plenty of bats (little brown bats) so, being concerned about habitat, I asked my daughter to buy a bat house for me. Equlibrium, it did go up in a tall tree, about 20 feet off the ground, but the tree side facing SE also faced the open yard, so no limbs to negotiate to go in. Best place I could find to have it put up. I watched it carefully, till one day I saw a large hole through the front of it! Woodpeckers had decided that it did not have enough ventilation! So, that was the extent of my bat habitat. Would not mind having another, but I have lots of woodpeckers here, who peck on everything imaginable, including metal meter boxes at five am!!!! BAM
Equilibrium
Jun 01, 2006
Tee he, I'd say that counts as habitat!
LOL BAM!! Not exactly the experience I was looking for, but you sure gave me a good chuckle!
Maybe you should name the woodpeckers Emeril!!
We had hail damage last Sept, just about everybody in town is getting a new roof. Us included. Our house is an 1896 3 story, that was vinyl sided and new windows installed by the PO. In the peaks, which I have 4 of, I was sure there was some sort of ornamental scallop type wood shingles or whatever you call them, under the luverly baby blue. Body of house is white, with the luverly baby blue in the peaks. The guys came to tear off and put on the new roof, and I got one of them to remove some of the baby blue on a peak. And I was right. How cool. Except then we left on vacation. Come home, the next night, wake up, need to use the "facilities" and see lights and hear my husband and daughter talking. In my fog I hear them saying something about a bat. I get up, and yep, there's a bat flying around in the rear area of the 2nd floor! Windows open, husband gets the gloves, captures the bat and out the window s/he goes. I need to get my dad to get cracking to help me with the bat house!! Nothing like being woke from such a sound sleep at 4 AM to get a bat out of the house! Poor little thing. They really make quite a noise when caught. We've got to get some wood to place in between the studs of each peak.......
Equilibrium
Jul 13, 2006
We went on vacation. Last time we were up north one of the boys broke a window in the 2 story garage. There was no time to fix it so I rammed a piece of styrofoam in it to stop rain and such. Look what we found-
Equilibrium
Jul 13, 2006
And another-
Equilibrium
Jul 13, 2006
We'll be making more bat houses ourselves.
I removed the styrofoam as it was obvious a few got in but couldn't get out. We then let them fly out on their own by opening up a few windows. We didn't have to actually grab them like you did.
Ok so do we have bats here and what do i do to build one of those? i have read too much... and yes Equ I am heading to bed I promise...
Equilibrium
Jul 13, 2006
Oh yes you have bats there baby! Quite a few actually and Myotis californicus comes to mind as being a species that might derive substantial benefits from a bat house such as the one I've got plans to.
Your bat house would need to be painted white.
I'm going to be though too!