Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

Not to mention....will bat guano be a problem?
zemedelec

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

Actually I love to watch bats, but I think we have enought derelict buildings
in New Orleans for them!
zemedelec

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

On 17 Mar 2003 01:25:40 GMT, pamfree (Zemedelec) wrote:

Not to mention....will bat guano be a problem?
zemedelec

It's no problem here. I have plants under the bathouse which will be slowly
fertilized over the season. In a few weeks I will go with my face mask up to the
bridge and shovel up as much as I can haul of bat guano. Ever see how much a tiny
bag costs?

I will say that the garden, especially an organic garden is teaming with all sorts of
organisms. Many of them are dangerous to open cuts or wounds and can give you myriad
infections. It's always good to wear closed shoes and gloves in a garden where
animal manures are used.

We also have rats. They are part of what makes up our little contribution to the
ecosystem on our property. They don't even run from us any more! I hope the
neighbor doesn't put out poison (jerk). We also have a Great Horned owl in one of
our live oaks.

So, organisms of any kind, including bat guano are not a huge threat if used properly
with a relatively good amount of precaution and care.

Victoria

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

On 17 Mar 2003 01:25:40 GMT, pamfree (Zemedelec) wrote:

Not to mention....will bat guano be a problem?
zemedelec

It's no problem here. I have plants under the bathouse which will be slowly
fertilized over the season. In a few weeks I will go with my face mask up to the
bridge and shovel up as much as I can haul of bat guano. Ever see how much a tiny
bag costs?

I will say that the garden, especially an organic garden is teaming with all sorts of
organisms. Many of them are dangerous to open cuts or wounds and can give you myriad
infections. It's always good to wear closed shoes and gloves in a garden where
animal manures are used.

We also have rats. They are part of what makes up our little contribution to the
ecosystem on our property. They don't even run from us any more! I hope the
neighbor doesn't put out poison (jerk). We also have a Great Horned owl in one of
our live oaks.

So, organisms of any kind, including bat guano are not a huge threat if used properly
with a relatively good amount of precaution and care.

Victoria

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

You know the guano thing really had me puzzled when I saw the
suggestion to hang the bat box on the side of a house? I think I want
to put it in an area that I won't have to shovel bat poop.
DH is less than thrilled about my bat research and has been doing some
checking on his own and came up with a post that stated hummingbirds
did away with alot mosquitoes by feeding them to their young. Has
anybody here come across statistics on the number of mosquitoes a bat
would eat in comparison to hummingbirds, swifts, dragonflies, etc.? I
can tell I'm going to have to do a hard sell for him to help me put up
the houses.

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

Go to www.batcon.org

Here is what they say about how much a bat eats:

"What do bats eat?"

"There are nearly 1,000 different species of bats in the world, living on every
continent except Antarctica. Each one has developed special adaptations for how it
lives and what it eats. For example, 70% of all the bats in the world eat insects and
many of them use echolocation in order to find food and move around in the dark. Many
small insectivorous bats can eat up to 2,000 mosquito-sized insect in one night.
These bats are able to eat so much because they have high metabolism and expend lots
of energy in flight. Frugivorous bats living in tropical climates have very good
eyesight and sense of smell for finding ripe fruit to eat. In the desert, there are
nectar-feeding bats which have long noses and tongues for harvesting nectar from
flowers, as well as special enzymes for digesting the high-protein pollen that
accumulates on their faces. Carnivorous bats have sharp claws and teeth for catching
small vertebrates such as fish, frogs, birds, or rodents. A few Latin American bats,
the vampires, eat only blood."


There is a whole lot more information to dispell the many ignorant myths surrounding
these magnificent creatures. They are NOT flying vermin, as many people think. If
it weren't for them, many of the fruits and other plants we eat would not exist any
more.

victoria

On 17 Mar 2003 14:44:05 -0800, (mypet) wrote:

You know the guano thing really had me puzzled when I saw the
suggestion to hang the bat box on the side of a house? I think I want
to put it in an area that I won't have to shovel bat poop.
DH is less than thrilled about my bat research and has been doing some
checking on his own and came up with a post that stated hummingbirds
did away with alot mosquitoes by feeding them to their young. Has
anybody here come across statistics on the number of mosquitoes a bat
would eat in comparison to hummingbirds, swifts, dragonflies, etc.? I
can tell I'm going to have to do a hard sell for him to help me put up
the houses.

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

On Tue, 18 Mar 2003 05:48:56 -0700, Tsu Dho Nimh wrote:


Bats DO NOT eat many mosquitos,if any. Mossies are way too small
for a bat to bother with. Bats eat mostly moths and other
"bite-sized" insects. They will eat those big flying
cockroaches, and they also hunt the treetops for cicadas and
caterpillars.

Not true for all bats. Mexican free tail or brown bats are the size of my thumb and
certainly do eat their fair share of mosquitoes. Hummingbirds eat nectar and small
spiders, an occasional flying insect.

Hummingbirds will nab tiny flying insects like whiteflies, so
mosquitos are probably eaten.

Tsu

Where do you get this information from? I'd like to take a look at it.

Otherwise, I refer people to Bat Conservation at www.batcon.org who indeed do know
what they are talking about, have done much research and are on top of bat culture,
so to speak.

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

On Tue, 18 Mar 2003 05:48:56 -0700, Tsu Dho Nimh
wrote:

snip

Bats DO NOT eat many mosquitos,if any. Mossies are way too small
for a bat to bother with. Bats eat mostly moths and other
"bite-sized" insects. They will eat those big flying
cockroaches, and they also hunt the treetops for cicadas and
caterpillars.

Hummingbirds will nab tiny flying insects like whiteflies, so
mosquitos are probably eaten.

Tsu

Bats do eat mosquitoes. There is a delicacy called "Mosquito eye
soup." The procedure involves putting bat guano in water and the
mosquito eyes float to the top and are skimmed off to add to the soup.
The eyes do not digest well in bats.

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

Where in the world is mosquito eye soup a delicacy? It doesn't really
sound that tasty, but then I wouldn't think anything really would that
was dug out of ....well....you know.

So, if bats don't eat that many skeeters. What IS the best mosquito
anhililator? Let's see we've got purple martins, swifts, hummingirds,
dragonflies, bats...how does each one rate?

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

On 25 Mar 2003 12:45:41 -0800, (mypet)
wrote:

Where in the world is mosquito eye soup a delicacy? It doesn't really
sound that tasty, but then I wouldn't think anything really would that
was dug out of ....well....you know.

So, if bats don't eat that many skeeters. What IS the best mosquito
anhililator? Let's see we've got purple martins, swifts, hummingirds,
dragonflies, bats...how does each one rate?

I read about the mosquito eye soup in a National Geographic. It is
served in Japan.

A pond will encourage the female to lay her eggs there. Then a hungry
goldfish or rosy red minnow eats the larva. You can use a fountain
that holds a few gallons of water instead of a pond.

Basically, draining swamps, gutters that hold water, old tires, any
standing water or even muddy areas will greatly reduce mosquito
populations. As a fisherman, "Deep Woods Off" is the best product to
avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and ticks.

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

On 25 Mar 2003 12:45:41 -0800, (mypet) wrote:

Where in the world is mosquito eye soup a delicacy? It doesn't really
sound that tasty, but then I wouldn't think anything really would that
was dug out of ....well....you know.

So, if bats don't eat that many skeeters. What IS the best mosquito
anhililator? Let's see we've got purple martins, swifts, hummingirds,
dragonflies, bats...how does each one rate?

Purple martins barely eat any and prefer moths and larger insects.
Swifts, the same.
Hummingbirds eat mostly tiny spiders, some occasional insects.
Dragonflies don't eat mosquitoes, but their larva.
Bats eat mosquitoes most out of the listed species, but not as many as people
think. They also prefer to eat larger insects.

Bt-Israelensis in mosquito dunk form is the best management tool for mosquitoes
in the larval stage. Don't have standing water around. Things like that.

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

In article ,
(mypet) wrote:

Where in the world is mosquito eye soup a delicacy? It doesn't really
sound that tasty, but then I wouldn't think anything really would that
was dug out of ....well....you know.

So, if bats don't eat that many skeeters. What IS the best mosquito
anhililator? Let's see we've got purple martins, swifts, hummingirds,
dragonflies, bats...how does each one rate?

Swallows are tops. If you have them in your area, build lots of swallow
nest boxes. You can find the spec's online.

Jan in Alaska
zone 3

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 08:39:45 -0900, (Jan Flora) wrote:

In article ,
(mypet) wrote:

Where in the world is mosquito eye soup a delicacy? It doesn't really
sound that tasty, but then I wouldn't think anything really would that
was dug out of ....well....you know.

So, if bats don't eat that many skeeters. What IS the best mosquito
anhililator? Let's see we've got purple martins, swifts, hummingirds,
dragonflies, bats...how does each one rate?

Swallows are tops. If you have them in your area, build lots of swallow
nest boxes. You can find the spec's online.

Jan in Alaska
zone 3

Swallow nest boxes? Don't they build mud nests under the eaves of houses? It's
a misnomer that they eat mosquitoes. They eat mostly fat juicy moths.

Going bats! Bathouse questions....
 

In article ,
wrote:

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 08:39:45 -0900, (Jan Flora) wrote:

In article ,
(mypet) wrote:

Where in the world is mosquito eye soup a delicacy? It doesn't really
sound that tasty, but then I wouldn't think anything really would that
was dug out of ....well....you know.

So, if bats don't eat that many skeeters. What IS the best mosquito
anhililator? Let's see we've got purple martins, swifts, hummingirds,
dragonflies, bats...how does each one rate?

Swallows are tops. If you have them in your area, build lots of swallow
nest boxes. You can find the spec's online.

Jan in Alaska
zone 3

Swallow nest boxes? Don't they build mud nests under the eaves of
houses? It's
a misnomer that they eat mosquitoes. They eat mostly fat juicy moths.

There are several types of swallows. One type nests under bridges, under the
eaves of the house, etc. in mud houses that they build. Another type digs
nest holes in mud banks. The barn swallow nest in barns and other farm
buildings.

Up here we have the "Violet-green swallow" and the "tree swallow" (among
several other types) that nest in hollow trees, fenceposts, barn eaves and
will happily move into nest boxes. I watch them eat mosquitos every morning
and evening. (My front yard is a 7 acre lake, so we have a healthy mossie
population. We don't have many moths here.)

I didn't realize that purple martins are in the swallow family. Just found
them in the bird book, tucked right in among the swallows.

The reason why so many birds migrate to the far north to rear their young
is because of the tremendous protein base here -- mosquitos.

Jan