Last I checked fish and wildlife department was staying to stop it with the bat boxes because they were spreading diseases (at least this was true in CA). Something like white nose or like that.
Is that still true?
Ginger_Snaps_Back
Bats ARE cool.
SpaceGoatAlpha
Unfortunately, as much as I hate mosquitoes, that’s a myth.
It was extrapolated from a test where a hungry bat was put in an enclosed room filled with nothing but mosquitoes and then let loose. It was noted during the first 3 minutes that the bat was catching 10 to 12 mosquitoes per minute. Despite this number sharply droping off after the first 5 minutes, some people decided to use the capture numbers from the first 3 minutes to extrapolate that bats catch 10 mosquitoes per minute as a baseline, presuming that they continue to catch the same numbers every minute constantly throughout the night, giving the presumed totals of 6,000 to 7,200 per night. The fact is, mosquitoes are actually a less desirable insect for bats to catch, as most species tend to largely go after nice juicy moths and flies that actually have substance and nutrition to them.
If you or I were were starved for a day or so and then put into a room with a whole bunch of packets of stale saltine crackers, I bet we’d be wolfing down quite a few of them right away too. But it wouldn’t mean that we eat 6,000-8,000 saltine crackers every day.
If you want to help them, bat houses are a good way to do it. Just make certain that you put them far away on the peripheral of your property and away from your home, as bats carry a wide number of diseases such as rabies and multiple forms of hemorrhagic fever that can be spread through even small scratches, contact with bat guano or even inhalation of aerosolized virus from their urine and droppings.
But yes, bats are cool, and they play an important role in many ecosystems.
⚾🦇
Myte342
Side note: Bat houses are protected by federal law. Not sure if a bat actually needs to live in it or not. So anyone stuck in a horrible HOA (is there any other kind?) you can put up bat homes and they can’t legally do anything about it or they are breaking the law.
4 Comments
Last I checked fish and wildlife department was staying to stop it with the bat boxes because they were spreading diseases (at least this was true in CA). Something like white nose or like that.
Is that still true?
Bats ARE cool.
Unfortunately, as much as I hate mosquitoes, that’s a myth.
It was extrapolated from a test where a hungry bat was put in an enclosed room filled with nothing but mosquitoes and then let loose. It was noted during the first 3 minutes that the bat was catching 10 to 12 mosquitoes per minute. Despite this number sharply droping off after the first 5 minutes, some people decided to use the capture numbers from the first 3 minutes to extrapolate that bats catch 10 mosquitoes per minute as a baseline, presuming that they continue to catch the same numbers every minute constantly throughout the night, giving the presumed totals of 6,000 to 7,200 per night. The fact is, mosquitoes are actually a less desirable insect for bats to catch, as most species tend to largely go after nice juicy moths and flies that actually have substance and nutrition to them.
If you or I were were starved for a day or so and then put into a room with a whole bunch of packets of stale saltine crackers, I bet we’d be wolfing down quite a few of them right away too. But it wouldn’t mean that we eat 6,000-8,000 saltine crackers every day.
If you want to help them, bat houses are a good way to do it. Just make certain that you put them far away on the peripheral of your property and away from your home, as bats carry a wide number of diseases such as rabies and multiple forms of hemorrhagic fever that can be spread through even small scratches, contact with bat guano or even inhalation of aerosolized virus from their urine and droppings.
But yes, bats are cool, and they play an important role in many ecosystems.
⚾🦇
Side note: Bat houses are protected by federal law. Not sure if a bat actually needs to live in it or not. So anyone stuck in a horrible HOA (is there any other kind?) you can put up bat homes and they can’t legally do anything about it or they are breaking the law.