Bat house?

[dazie]

Has anyone here had any luck with bat houses?  I want to get some or build some to put near my new place to help cut down on the mosquitos around here.  There are already some bats in the area, I've seen them in the evenings.

Will bats also eat lightning bugs?  I don't want that to happen if I can avoid it.

[kelbel]

Never had any luck with the bat houses but I did have a few that loved living in attic.

[nishi]

there are bat conservation groups online that have lots of information about what bats eat and the best ways to hang bat houses. i was going to put one up, but after reading one of the sites, realized that i really didn't have a place to hang it that would draw bats to it - as you might expect, if they're really going to make a house out of it, they're pretty picky about where it is. i have too many trees too close to my house, if i remember correctly.

i have no idea about the lightning bug thing.

[ReBurn]

My mother-in-law is doing well, thanks.

[kelbel]

My mother-in-law is doing well, thanks.

[Jessie]

We have lots of bats and lots of lightning bugs here.  That's all i know.

[BigDun]

I used to lay out in the yard when I was a teenager and watch the bats swoop around catching bugs. There were lots of lighting bugs around but they never seemed to be the target of the bat's attention.

After watching bats fly, I have no fear of them. Their reaction time to diverting away from stationary objects is nothing short of amazing.

[Alice]

What are lightning bugs? 

(Our county sprayed for mosquitos and killed off all the lightning bugs too...)

[BigDun]

What are lightning bugs? 

(Our county sprayed for mosquitos and killed off all the lightning bugs too...)

That's sad.

[ReBurn]

It's cool when you are driving and a lightning bug splatters on your windshield.  Glowing guts is cool.

[DownSouth]

My parents had to pay 4000 dollars to get bats out of the attic a few years ago.  The company that was doing it left the key in the cherry picker over night.  Those things are fun to drive.

[ReBurn]

You should have had copies made.

[DownSouth]

Never leave a southern boy with keys to large machinery.

[ReBurn]

Never leave a southern boy with keys to large machinery.

I am a testament to this statement.  Remember that my father builds very large buildings.

[nishi]

<Bat Food

All eastern bats found in the United States feed only insects and can eat one half of their body weight in one night! Their favorite flying bugs are moths and one night! Their favorite flying bugs are mosquitoes, moths and soft-shelled beetles such as lightning bugs. Areas that have bats have very few flying insects at night. An average bat will eat more than 300 bugs a night! A typical summer colony of 1000 bats, each only weighing about a third of an ounce will consume, in a 200 day active season, more than 2200 pounds of insects or approximately 600,000,000 bugs! >

you should check with your local bat conservationist - this is the only place that i saw other bugs mentioned. mostly, they just talk about mosquitoes.

[BigDun]

I knew there was a reason I loved bats -

...Their favorite flying bugs are moths...

* BigDun hates moths.

[Gamplayerx]

Bats freak me out.  They make swimming at night an adventure.

[ursus]

Bats freak me out. They make swimming at night an adventure.

Where the hell were you swimming?

[ReBurn]

Bats freak me out. They make swimming at night an adventure.

Where the hell were you swimming?

Transylvania 6-5000?

[ursus]

Bats freak me out. They make swimming at night an adventure.

Where the hell were you swimming?

Transylvania 6-5000?

+1

[Gamplayerx]

In the backyard.  They're attracted to the bugs that are attracted by the pool light.