Subject: Bats for insect control

From: [email-masked] (John Bachman)
Date: 21 Mar 1995 07:29:39 -0500

I recently posted a reply to a mosquito control question in which I
suggested encouraging bats (installing bat houses, etc).  I am doing so as
part of a national bat research project conducted by  Bat Conservation
International, P. O. Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716. 
 
Anyone else have experience in this area?  Boy am I asking for it! 
<grin> 
-- 
John Bachman

---

From: [email-masked] (Flyinggoat)
Date: 21 Mar 1995 12:58:01 -0500

>I've been reading that bats are not all that great for mosquito control.
Bats 
>prefer meatier, high altitude prey like moths and beetles.

There's more than one kind of bat. 
They all have such high metabolisms that they'd probably eat what ever's
handy before deciding if the bug was one they were supposed to eat.
Betty Cunningham([email-masked])
illustrator, animator, and likes to collect dead things

---

From: [email-masked] (Flyinggoat)
Date: 22 Mar 1995 15:02:09 -0500

>I've only seen bats in the country - how close do they come to cities? 
>I'm in suburban LA.

Look under your local bridges and overpasses.  If you see a large white
stain spreading out from under or around a crack in a triangle pattern
(pointy end down), it is likely you've got bats in your area already. 
That's where we've got them here in San Jose.

---

From: [email-masked] (Jen Mayer)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 02:46:00 GMT

JB> suggested encouraging bats (installing bat houses, etc).  I am doing
JB> so as part of a national bat research project conducted by  Bat
JB> Conservation International, P. O. Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716.

I would put a bat house in if I thought there were any bats in these 
parts that would show up and live here. I've got plenty of mosquitoes 
for them to eat.

 * RM 1.3 01256 * Never accept lemonade from a urologist.

---

From: [email-masked] (Flyinggoat)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 13:19:02 -0500

>You will find plenty of bats in LA -- just go out at dusk and
>watch the sky.

*chuckle* Well, it's obvious YOU'VE never been to LA.  They don't have any
sky, just this big, brown, chunky thing.

---

From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 05:26:58 GMT

Chris Owens

---

From: [email-masked] (Gary V. Deutschmann Sr.)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 05:38:36 GMT

I built two bat houses, the simple flat ones and placed one in each corner
of our yard, shaded.
Once they were inhabited, which took tw two seasons...
We never see the bats nor the mosquitos...
Gary

---

From: [email-masked] (John Woodworth)
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 10:17:08

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (John Bachman) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (John Bachman)
>Subject: Bats for insect control
>Date: 21 Mar 1995 07:29:39 -0500

>Anyone else have experience in this area?  Boy am I asking for it! 

I've been reading that bats are not all that great for mosquito control. Bats 
prefer meatier, high altitude prey like moths and beetles.

John

"Epater les bourgeios"

---

From: [email-masked] (Flyinggoat)
Date: 21 Mar 1995 12:58:01 -0500

Bats

---

From: [email-masked] (Flyinggoat)
Date: 22 Mar 1995 15:02:09 -0500

---

From: [email-masked] (Jen Mayer)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 02:46:00 GMT

---

From: [email-masked] (Flyinggoat)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 13:19:02 -0500

---

From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 05:26:58 GMT

Chris Owens

---

From: [email-masked] (Gary V. Deutschmann Sr.)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 05:38:36 GMT

---

From: [email-masked] (John Woodworth)
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 10:17:08

John

"Epater les bourgeios"

---

From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 25 Mar 1995 15:52:52 GMT

>illustrator, animator, and likes to collect dead things

Well, actually, I used to live there.  The sky isn't REALLY blue,
but you still can see the bats at dusk.

Chris Owens

---

From: [email-masked] (sonny hays-eberts)
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 10:07:27 -0700

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Jen

> parts that would show up and live here. I've got plenty of mosquitoes 

a short while ago a lady who works with willamette wildlife gave a
presentation about bats here. they need about all the help they can get.
but a house really isn't it. only about 5-10% of bat houses in the u.s. are
inhabited, bats have no shortage of living quarters. in europe bat house
occupancy is more like 50%. what bats need in the u.s. is primarily two
things - a water source and safety from cats and other predators (esp.
around the water). they are awfully cute little guys; she brought in three
she's rescued and are unable to return to the wild. they have quite the
range of facial expressions, too. :)

-- 
like the forest's fight for sunlight, it takes root in every tree
pulled upwards by the magnet, believing they are free
         -- genesis

sonny hays-eberts
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Diane Duran)
Date: 29 Mar 95 20:13:12 GMT

My back fence is a deer-screen, just a 6-foot high wire grid.  Will bats move 
into a bathouse near such a fence?  Will they have any trouble flying around 
it or near it?  I have open space behind the fence so I'd like to have 
bathouses on the fence line so I don't get droppings where the kids play.

Diane Duran
[email-masked]
*** Opinions expressed are mine, and not necessarily those of my employer.

---

From: [email-masked] (Joe Kusterer)
Date: 28 Mar 1995 17:27:20 GMT

>but you still can see the bats at dusk.

In addition to the recently mentioned Bat Conservation International,
I saw, a while back, a bit in the local paper about the American
Bat Conservation Society.  I hadn't heard of them before and don't
know anything about them but they list the following:

  Absolutely Bats! the retail store at the
  National Bat Center
  5721 Randolph Road
  Rockville, MD  20852
  (301) 984-BATS

Chris, isn't this just down the road a piece for you?

Joe Kusterer                   Loral Federal Systems - Manassas
Team OS/2                               [email-masked]
---------------------------------------------------------------

---

From: [email-masked] (Diane Duran)
Date: 29 Mar 95 20:13:12 GMT

Diane Duran
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Joe Kusterer)
Date: 28 Mar 1995 17:27:20 GMT

---

From: [email-masked] (John Bachman)
Date: 30 Mar 1995 19:08:28 -0500

In rec.gardens [email-masked] (Diane Duran) said: 

>into a bathouse near such a fence?  Will they have any trouble flying
around it  
>or near it?  I have open space behind the fence so I'd like to have
bathouses  
>on the fence line so I don't get droppings where the kids play. 
 
The bats in my area normally fly 15+ feet off the ground.  I doubt that
they would have a problem with your fence.