The house I’m working in has bats. I believe that they are under the rake board running up the brick gable. I need to go up into the attic for some work. Is it likely that these bats stay on the outside under the rake board or will some of them likely be in the hot dark attic? I’m ascared!
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Mine were in the area between the trim board and the first rafter. I noted the bat poop (guano) on the roof first.
Got 'em mobilized with a healthy shot of Diazinon; that stunned em and flushed em out. I pulled the trim board off, vacuumed out all the crap I could, then filled the void with foam insulation. Trimmed off the excess, reinstalled the trim board, and that was it, they are back in the woods where they belong.
As long as there are no holes, they should just be under the board. Which bats? If I remember correctly the little & big brown bats sometimes nestle under loose tree bark (shagbark hickory, silver maple etc).
You may want to check out BCI (Bat Conservation International) or OBC (Organization for Bat Conservation) websites. I attended a seminar that featured a speaker from OBC. She brought a couple of live bats with her & walked around so you could see them up close. Very cool lecture.
Monsoon followed by STUNNING weather. Just in time for the new Harry Potter release party!
Plant, I did see one up close.
Last week I punched a 7" hole in the exterior brick gable wall for a new range vent. I left the hole open for a couple days. When I came back I found a dead bat at the bottom of a large cardboard box in the kitchen. I assume that it came in through the hole, but why/how it died, I don't know.
.....but why/how it died, I don't know.
Yer wife do most of the cooking?
J. D. ReynoldsHome Improvements
Most, if not all, bats can't fly from the ground. They need a drop to get started. Usually when a bat ends up on the ground it can find something to climb up in to fly from, but in your case the bat could not climb the walls of the box to get going. Then it died of dehydration or starvation.Simple
Most, if not all, bats can't fly from the ground
I've noticed that. I occasionally find them in the house. If discovered in time, like the one we had recently camped on the kitchen floor, scooping them up into a dust pan and flinging them out the door allows them to fly away. It happens often enough that when we hear the clicking sound, we reach for the dust pan and evict the dogs from the vicinity, since their helpful supervision doesn't make up for all the barking involved.
Bats often are rabid, so one needs to be careful and not handle them. If they bite someone (very unlikely to happen with the Little Brown Bats we have in Maine) they should be gently killed and saved so they can be autopsied and tested for rabies.
Poor little bats... They're great for eating up mosquitoes and other insect pests in my area. Wifey and I looked at putting bat boxes high on the chimneys of our rental houses, but we were concerned about the mess from guano.
We had one get in through an open window into our TV room last year. The room is 12x12 and perfectly octagonal shaped. The little guy flew circles around and around looking for somewhere to go, but his sonar couldn't find the open windows. Circular shaped room allowed him to go real fast! Anyway, we got him out by first opening all of the windows all the way, turning on the porch light and then turning off the room lights. He was gone in like 30 seconds. They may be blind, but the light must have helped a little.
We've had enough bats in the house over the years now that neither wifey nor I get too worked up. Old dog, on the other hand... He like to lick 'em.
"If they bite someone (very unlikely to happen with the Little Brown Bats we have in Maine) they should be gently killed and saved so they can be autopsied and tested for rabies."Rather drastic measures to take on someone just because they got bit by a bat, don't you think ?;o)
Yeh... That'll work.
92592.19 in reply to 92592.15
"If they bite someone (very unlikely to happen with the Little Brown Bats we have in Maine) they should be gently killed and saved so they can be autopsied and tested for rabies."
Rather drastic measures to take on someone just because they got bit by a bat, don't you think ?
;o)If you're dumb enough to put a body part in a bat's mouth, expect no mercy.
ROFLOL
Yeh... That'll work.
I don't get it. Bat's are protected and if you get bitten by one, kill the thing so they can test it for rabies???
Maybe the person who gets bit should submit themselves for testing!
If it wasn’t for the Bank Payments,
Interest, Taxes, Wages, and Fuel Costs,
I wouldn’t have to charge you!!
Poor bats, all of peoples' fears are just superstitious stigma. Bats are pretty cool, cute little critters if you ask me.
I'm more worried about brown recluse and deer tick bites that rabid bat bites.
Don't kill the little guys, they're so beneficial for your neighborhood.
Of course don't kill them out of fear or ignorance. They are nice little critters. I have scores, if not hundreds, living in my barn and eaves and wouldn't dream of harming them. If bitten, however (a very rare occurrence around here) one should kill the bat or hope for the best. Rabies is an awful way to die.
A couple of weeks ago I built a large bat house (18"w x 48"h x 6"d) that I will install on my house this weekend. The bat house design is supposedly perferred to attics/soffits/eaves. Bats are curious and always looking for new living quarters and many may move out of my attic on their own...that is my hope.If the bats are familiar with the bat house this summer, and I tighten up access points to my attic this winter, when they come back next spring the bat house will be waiting for them.Then I plan to move the house to a tree or post, some distance from the house.I figure that my attempts to evict bats will be more successful if they have a nice place to move to.
Basswood,Do you have the plans for that ?Thank you.
Yeh... That'll work.
The design I settled on is a hybrid based on some of the research of the bat conservation groups. I've read that bigger and taller is better. 4' tall simply allowed me to use a bunch of ply scraps with the 4' length already cut. I just ripped the scraps down to 18". The back ply layer is 53" providing a landing area at the bottom.14" is a recommended minimum width for the houses. The depth of the houses depends on how many layers of slots you go with (3 is the min. and 7 is a common upper limit)--I went with 5 layers. The slots should be from 3/4-1" of space between the "fins".Since some bats prefer thinner or thicker slots, warped plywood is perfect. Weathered, rough plywood is good too (I just happened to have a pile of weathered and warped stuff around). using a combination of 1x1 spacers of 3/4" and some rough sawn stock that is a full 1" would be good too.The 5-layer house I constructed must weigh 100 pounds...installing it up on my gable will be fun. I painted the bat house last week (black or brown are suggested).I'll post how well this bat house is recieved by the bats. Building one just takes a couple hours and for me it just used scrap that is piled too high around here already.BW
A valuable use for scrap that is just hanging around already, is exactly what I was thinking.Thank you. You gave me the information I needed. (Minimum height, width, size between layers, landing area, etc...)I think if I build one, I'll put it up on a post by itself, then I'll have to figure out a way to keep the cats from climbing up there. (Easier to do this with a post, than with a tree.)As for painting... How about black, with the bat symbol on the front ? ;o)
Yeh... That'll work.
Did you put a fiberglass mesh on the back piece? My house came w/that (I painted mine black also). Apparently, it's recommended as a "clinging" surface for their little clawfeet. And make sure it's up rather high. I think more than 15ft was recommended.Still don't have any in my house but like the local baseball team, there's always next year<G>.No German Shepherd corpses spotted on the way home. The weekend has SERIOUSLY improved!!!
I do have FG mesh out in the shop...sounds like a good idea.I had heard about the 15' off the ground ...if you install them lower than that they just need a little mini-tramp to bounce off of. ;o)"...there's always next year." Hope springs...
I made one about 5 years ago from scrap plywood and it looked great. But then the bees too over. I researched the best locations, etc. and we have plenty of bats in the area but the bees loved it. I've seen some that were made from cedar. I know I've used scrap blocks of cedar in the eaves of sheds to keep bees away. In areas that I always had bees, once I put a few pieces of cedar, I never had any bees again. I think the smell keeps them away. Anyway, I would put some cedar or other to keep the bees out.For others, you can find a lot of free plans online. You need to do a few things so the bats like it. If I remember right, bats eat 500 mosquitoes an hour, so don't kill them unless it is absolutely necessary. If you've seen them up close, they are harmless little things, basically chipmunks with wings.
Brown bats are common in the older neighborhoods of Kansas City. I rehabbed a house where the bats entered the house where the limestone chimney met the soffit. They camped out in the joist bay in behind the knee wall in the third floor. All was well until I opened the ceiling on the second floor and they found a new path towards what must have seemed like twilight (light fixtures on the first floor). I was told to put a bright light and radio up there until they fled in fright. 24 hours later they were still there so I changed the radio to a country music station figuring these were city bats. Another 24 hours later and they were still there so I tried a rap station with no better results. Frustrated I turned off the radio and the light and planned to put firecrackers in a rigged up rectangular duct run. When I started this dangerous procedure the following day I realized the bats had flown the coup (so to speak). I assume they were to frightened to leave with the light on and the music playing. Sealed up the entrance and all was well.
I have include some photos from a house I worked on where the bats were nesting between the stucco siding and the shutter. I had to stand on the top rung of the ladder to unscrew the top of the shutter so you can imagine how close I was to the bats. I set a new world record for descending a ladder.
I like bats, too, but I've always thought that the, "bats eat a zillion mosquitos an hour" thing was just hype put out by pro bat people. What self respecting biological organism would waste so much energy to capture 500 mosquitos when one decent size moth would give it more nutrition ? (Probably a much easier sonar echo to track, too !)
--"Every so often, a well-meaning conservation group promotes bats to eliminate mosquitoes from areas where nuisance has become intolerable. This undoubtedly leads to rediscovery of research conducted in the 1950s indicating that bats released in a room filled with mosquitoes could catch up to 10 mosquitoes per minute. The research was conducted to measure the effectiveness of echolocation in insectivorous bat species. The results have been extrapolated to suggest that wild bats can consume 600 mosquitoes per hour. Using that figure, a colony of 500 bats will remove 250,000 mosquitoes each hour and theoretically afford mosquito control for an entire neighborhood. Research since that time has shown that insectivorous bats are opportunistic feeders and that mosquitoes make up a very small percentage of their natural diet. Bats' behavior when locked in a room with nothing to feed upon but mosquitoes has no bearing on their behavior in the wild. Bats feed on the same insects that turn up in bug zappers and are no more effective for controlling mosquitoes than their electronic equivalent. Providing habitat to enhance bat populations is an admirable activity for conservation purposes. Using mosquito control as the reason to initiate public interest is misleading at best."http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/proprom.htm
I don't care how many mosquitoes they eat its that many fewer that can bug me!
I don't want to eliminate the bats so I'm using the mosquito theory to help motivate me.
Doug
Doug,Even though the bats eating skeeters thing has been overstated, The small brown bats do eat about 100 insects per hour IIRC and about 1 of those 100 is a skeeter...now if you have a colony of 200 bats feeding for several hours each night--they could knock off a thousand mosquitos each and every night--not bad really.Most of the other bugs they eat are garden and agricultural pests so there is a big benefit to the gardener and farmer too.Carry on,BW
now if you have a colony of 200 bats
I think we have a lot more then 200 and as long as they eat any mosquitoes they will be welcome at my place!
BTW, we also have a lot of bees around so I'm going to incorporate some cedar into the bat house that I build, gotta cover all bases.
Doug
Edited 7/29/2007 12:32 pm ET by DougU
I think a good sized moth would be like a person trying to shove a loaf of bread into their mouth.I propped the back door open one night (the glass is at the top and keeps a lot of hot air in) and while I was watching TV, I saw something dark fly into the living room. Hmm, a bat. Never had one inside before and after it did a few laps, I grabbed a hat and guided it toward the open door. It stopped long enough to hang onto a shirt in my closet fro a few seconds, then I scooped it into the hat and held it outside. Had never seen one that close, in enough light to see any detail."I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Edited 7/29/2007 11:01 am by highfigh
I did not know about the bees and cedar...but I did just happen to use some cedar scraps on this project as spacers.Thanks for the tip.
The cedar worked for me the few times that I've used it, so I just stick with it. I assume that it was the cedar that drove away the bees, because no other variable changed and I cannot imagine the bees loving an area and then leaving completely.I think it could be one of those things where they cedar just makes is less friendly then someone else house or shed. Kind of like the out swimming a shark or out running a bear, you don't need to beat the shark/bear, just the smuck next to you.
Maybe the person who gets bit should submit themselves for testing!
By the time rabies shows up in any test, you are a goner.
Anything suspected of having rabies needs to be taken in for testing. If the critter can't be brought in, the bitee ends up getting shot full of holes with rabies vaccine.They eat a significant number of insects- apparently even the bats don't like all of the mosquitos in Minnesota and Canada.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I noticed that.He did say "gently" killed.I'm gonna be still chuckling over that one by bedtime...;)
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"Gently killed" because if you mash it with a framing hammer, it would be difficult to examine the brain.
Last night there was a canine and feline commotion in the other room. Sure enough, a bat had paid a visit. The poor little guy was hanging onto a post and climbing skyward, away from the cat and dogs. I grabbed him (with gloved hand) and delivered him outside. If you get a chance to really look at a bat, they are sort of cute.
My niece works on a tour boat in Austin TX that takes people on the river to see hundreds of thousands of bats fly out from under a bridge every evening. It is apparently quite the tourist attraction.
Edited 7/27/2007 9:18 am ET by smslaw
My niece works on a tour boat in Austin TX that takes people on the river to see hundreds of thousands of bats fly out from under a bridge every evening.
South Congress bridge, and it is quit the sight.
There is also a guy down in TX that has built several concrete caves(big as a house) with the attempt to provide them with a home while migrating - I think he was experienceing some success with his work.
Doug
I've been laughing over that one too.
Somehow that sounds like it would take a lot longer and be less fun for the bat.
http://www.petedraganic.com/
If you install some bat doors over the entrances, the bats will not be able to get back into the structure. You will have to do it at a certain time of the year, so the bats are active, but do not have young.
It works.
If it wasn’t for the Bank Payments,
Interest, Taxes, Wages, and Fuel Costs,
I wouldn’t have to charge you!!
If you install some bat doors over the entrances, the bats will not be able to get back into the structure.
Unless of course they have the keys to the Batmobile. (Automatic bat door opener in glove compartment dontcha know.)
J. D. ReynoldsHome Improvements
That's what the bat doors are designed for. They can exit the structure, but cannot get back in.
If it wasn’t for the Bank Payments,
Interest, Taxes, Wages, and Fuel Costs,
I wouldn’t have to charge you!!
Was that a bat or something else that flew over his head?
Just hope he don't look up!
J. D. ReynoldsHome Improvements
I know a guy who tried to catch the bats in his attic by hanging strips of I&W from his attic ridge, kind of like flypaper. Didn't work, plus he got a hunk of it stuck in his hair. He shoulda just marched on down to HD and asked where they keep the bat doors.
Electric paint sprayer and ammonia.
Keep in mind that bats are a protected species in many states, so you're not allowed to kill them - just displace them. And as previously mentioned, not while they're nursing their young. I believe that season is past, however.
I know from firsthand experience that screaming like a girl will stun a bat long enough for you to catch it.
Bats carry rabies, and the guano carries a fungus that can really cause damage! Be careful! Don't put your hand anywhere you can't see! They can bite! Nothing can be as fun as getting rabies shots! Use a respirator!
do the job and proceed with caution! Use a good respirator,, and shopvac up the guano with a hepa,, then bleach the shop vac tank! good luck!
To put things in perspective, The vast majority of bats do not have rabies. Worldwide, 99% of rabies cases in humans are the result of dog bites. Rabies kills about one person per year in the US (compare that to cars, sports...you are literally far more likely to die by being struck by lightning--82 deaths per year). Also, most histoplasmosis cases are from birds not bats. Bird feeders are a more significant threat than most bats in the non-occupied portion of houses. The CDC suggests that bats can be left living in attics, within reason, but should be excluded from the living space.http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/bats_&_rabies/bats&.htm
Edited 7/28/2007 10:16 am ET by basswood
Another bat horror story.
In the Sierra foothills, bats often carry a bloodsucking bug in the assassin bug family called the "bloodsucking conenose" Triatoma protracta. If you have a heavy infestation, the bug nymphs can find their way into your bed and leave some very nasty bites. I have known of several people who have had bites from this bug from bat infestations.
Bats are wonderful creatures but I would go out of my way to keep them out of my house.