Bat House in backyard - pros/cons

[Anonymous]

Austin, Texas doesn't really seem to have a problem with this, largest colony of Mexican Free-tailed in the U.S., 1.5 million. No mosquitos there.

Also, anything we can do to increase bat conversation would be helpful considering that white-nose fungus in rapidly killing off hundreds of thousands of animals...some species are already into endangered status.

[Anonymous]

I live in Michigan in the suburbs We have had bats in our neighborhood for 3 decades without one incident. Obviously they should not be touched like all other wild mamals! There are no Vampire bats Native to the U.S. Bats are friends of Man and serve us well.

[Anonymous]

I love bats and have seen them in our yard in Falls Church. When we were in Sydney, Australia there were 10s of 1,000s of bats living in the city's Botanic Garden. The were huge 2 lb. suckers. It was awesome to see the bat cloud over the harbor each evening.

[Anonymous]

With all the pros / cons for bats,, what are the pros / cons for the Zika virus ???????

[Anonymous]

Bats don't so anything to the mosquito population

[Anonymous]

Bats are awesome!

I have several bat houses. Bats have moved into one, but not the other. This thread reminds me that I need to move that one to a different part of the yard. We love laying in the yard on summer nights watching them fly around at sunset (and no mosquitoes!).

Pay no attention to the fear-mongers. They obviously don't know what they are talking about.

[Anonymous]

I have a bat house on the front of my house. Little bat was living behind our shutter when we replaced them. We felt bad about removing his house that we put one up for him.

As far as we can tell we only have 1 bat. We see him leave just before dark. House has been up for a year.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read all the replies, but:
1. Most bat houses remain empty unless you are evicting bats from a nearby roost/building.
2. Bats eat very few mosquitos. Too small for it to be efficient for them.
3. Very few bats have rabies, and unless you are picking up rabid bats bare-handed, there is almost no chance of contracting rabies.

So basically, there aren't really downsides, but the benefits you seek aren't very likely. But you could at least try.

-bat biologist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With all the pros / cons for bats,, what are the pros / cons for the Zika virus ???????

thanks for resurrecting this thread to impart that golden nugget of wisdom.

That said, if anyone cares, we have a bat house. We live in a townhouse community and our neighbors don't even know what it is. It took 1-2 years, but we have a colony of brown bats that lives there. I guess they eat up the mosquitoes, but we just thought it would be fun to have. During the summer, we take the kids out to watch them head out for breakfast a few nights a week. Very cool.

[Anonymous]

It's not really worth worrying about rabid raccoons either. So much hysteria going around for nothing.

[Anonymous]

It will be great fun when bats are surprised by a cold weather and you find them early in the morning stuck and frozen to your house and trees. I saw it when I was a kid at the hotel they all froze on lamp posts on the restaurant balcony. Hundreds of frozen bats. I still have nightmares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cool video. Bet those folks don't get a lot of mosquito bites.

Maybe that's the noises I'm hearing from our attic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the replies, but:
1. Most bat houses remain empty unless you are evicting bats from a nearby roost/building.
2. Bats eat very few mosquitos. Too small for it to be efficient for them.
3. Very few bats have rabies, and unless you are picking up rabid bats bare-handed, there is almost no chance of contracting rabies.

So basically, there aren't really downsides, but the benefits you seek aren't very likely. But you could at least try.

-bat biologist

What about the idea that you need bat guano to attract bats to your bat house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the replies, but:
1. Most bat houses remain empty unless you are evicting bats from a nearby roost/building.
2. Bats eat very few mosquitos. Too small for it to be efficient for them.
3. Very few bats have rabies, and unless you are picking up rabid bats bare-handed, there is almost no chance of contracting rabies.

So basically, there aren't really downsides, but the benefits you seek aren't very likely. But you could at least try.

-bat biologist

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not really worth worrying about rabid raccoons either. So much hysteria going around for nothing.

+1

The fear mongers pick and choose their subjects - but not very wisely.