MediaHound

I have a huge problem with caterpillars eating my Oleander and my Passiflora
Whats this about a bat-house? My neighbors will really love me now!
I've read about doing that, but never really spoke to anyone who's done it. Is it effective? How long till bats take residence?

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mikevan

Check out http://www.batcon.org/ - they have free plans, kits and inexpensive books on building bat houses and where to place them. Plus tons of articles! I've read them all! I know a lot of people who have bat houses up and will soon have several up myself - the only delay for me is waiting for my bamboo to mature and garden plans to solidify so I'll place these roosts in ideal locations. Bats are popular around here - they don't get instantly occupied, but if you choose a good location, they almost always will. How long is strictly circumstantial - it's good to errect the roost in the early Spring. It's good to errect them where they get plenty of sun and have a clear flying path. A big mistake people make is to stick cheapo houses on trees. Shade is not what they're looking for - these are brooding roosts that require warmth and they can tolerate a whole lota heat! And don't fret - you don't even know they're there! During the day you can shine a light up into the roost if you like, but they only come out at night and are pretty quiet about it, so neighbors have nothing to worry about. One of the local buildings here got occupied by over 10,000 bats and I'd watch them almost silently flying off into the dusk to feed. Amazing sight! Got lotsa guano from them too. I had one flying around the house too - durned thing was completely silent! I only knew it was there when something dark whizzed by! Got him out without a problem. Don't touch bats that are on the ground - they're sick and likely rabid. Those that are flying well enough are healthy an you just need to corral any you get in the house back outside - often they're going after a moth that's attracted to the light in your doorway when you open the door.

Be well,
Mike

MediaHound

Thanks for the info! I will seriously consider doing this.

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

momoese

I'm liking this Bat idea. I don't recall seeing any around though. Can you buy them and put them in the new house?

mikevan

The only way you'll see a bat, unless you're really really lucky, is if you're specifically looking for bats, and even then you'd still have to be lucky. They're nearly silent flyers, their clicks are beyond our range of hearing, and they are perfectly camouflaged for night flying - very dark. You may see on darting into the light of a street-lamp but it'd only be for an instant. Truely stealth flyers!

You cannot buy bats. Like bird-houses, the best you can do is provide the ideal conditions for bats in the type of roost and location of roost to attract them. Once you get a few, more will come - each year there will be more bats than before. I hope to build a large bat condo here - tens of thousands of bats is my goal. That'd be so cool to watch, kicking back with a banana daiquiri in the evening...

Be well,
Mike

momoese

Mike, how bout you trap some and send them my way.

MediaHound

or you can get a mosquito magnet

__________________
Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

mikevan

Good idea - attract all the skeeters to your yard and the bats are sure to show up.

Bats are ubiquitous. Everywhere. Yet you never see them. How... creepy... is that? I love it!

Be well,
Mike

AnnaJW

I've been wanting to put some Bat houses up, but have to try to hide them from the neighbors. (I'm a formally rural person who has been "ambushed" by City Folk.) :-)

I even have to keep my bird feeders hidden as much as posssible. Heaven Forbid that there be bird droppings on the tops of the fences!!! (Where no people need to be anyway...)

When we moved to this area we had lots of great Beneficial insects. Especially Praying Mantiis - AWESOME picture Mitchel! - and Mud Daubers. Oh, and Wolf spiders. I haven't seen any of those this year.

Almost all of our neighbors have pest control places come out regularly. I think that is why the ants, etc. congregate here.

The ants are everywhere in our house right now. I was up until 3 AM last night trying to wipe them out in a "natural" way.
They are even worse today/tonight.

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-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

momoese

Anna, there are organic pest control companies too. Our neighbor uses one for ant control.

AnnaJW

Do you know the name of the company by any chance?

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-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

momoese

I'll ask her later when she get's home.

momoese

Well I finally remembered to ask her!

www.corkyspest.com

She had a huge ant problem and they have it under control now, which probably explains the millions of them over here on this side of the fence!

AnnaJW

Thanks, Mitchel!

I now have plastic storage containers all over the place to try to keep the ants out! These ants even like coffee!

__________________
-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

Carolina

coffee and salt! I'm a restaurant manager and we actually had ants IN the salt shakers.. right there on the tables! Thank goodness it was taken care of quickly.. and before the health inspector showed!

Bats.. when i lived in panama they were always going into the clubhouse and movie theatre.. the ushers spent many a night knocking them to the floor and tossing them out the door.. i never thought of bats as being hard to find

mosquitoes have been awful here, too.. regardless of the fact we have a gazillion frogs (including in the pool)

mikevan

While frogs are opportunistic and will eat anything they can fit in their mouths, they really don't go after skeeters. Hummingbirds will eat skeeters - plant lotsa hummingbird attracting plants too. They mostly feed them to their young - but I've watched a hummer sit on a branch and go out, grab something from the air then reperch and do that repeatedly - the same way dragonflies do. Oh - dragonflies and damselflies will decimate a skeeter population. There are a few predators to encourage out there - and they're also very pretty too. Hmmm, swallows too, IIRC. The ones that build mud nests on ledges and under soffits.

For grasshoppers - guinea fowl and peafowl can't be beat, tho free-range chickens come close. The only ant I have to deal with here are fire-ants and they require a multi-pronged and year long effort to control. Not sure if that'll help you any... Hmm, well, there is the scarlet ant, but that's actually a wingless wasp. Very pretty!

Be well,
Mike