Bats

[arjay]

Walked out the back door with a cup of coffee ,grabbed a smoke from the ledge and fired it up.Noticed something in the bag of seed next to the coffin nails.Looked like a dead mouse,but no.Its a dead bat.Dug a hole and buried it bag and all.
No doubt he spit on my smokes before croaking
Patiently waiting for symptoms to appear...

 

[LVSteve]

If you see this in the mirror next time you shave, then the lurgi got you.

 

[500SNW]

At least yours was dead. This past Winter I was at my cabin in the woods and went to get a piece of firewood from my small indoor stash and I woke up a bat who had decided to camp out in the woodpile over the Winter. No idea how he had gotten inside the house, nor how we'd shared quarters for over two months without disturbing one another. Needless to say he wasn't happy at being awakened....I heard a hissing coming from the log in my hand. Luckily I hadn't thrown it into the fire. Me, being a nice guy, and rather than throwing him out into the cold, I escorted him to another woodpile I keep in the outside pole barn.

 

[soFlaNative]

Bart the Bat's been holed up where the standard meets the street light pole for years.
I see his goofy looking flight pattern all the time at dusk.

 

[arjay]

I haven't seen bats in this neighborhood in years.This guy was tiny.About the size of a mouse
No sign of rabies...yet

 

[500SNW]

One morning, just as the Sun was rising, I watched about two dozen bats call it a night and crawl through my neighbors gable vent. I like Bats, so I never did tell them about it. What they don't know won't hurt them.

 

[arjay]

There was an old farmhouse behind my last place that had bats in the attic and a fox den underneath.The kids and I would sit out back at dusk watching the kits play with bats zooming around our heads.Their mother would not come out of the house lol

 

[Grip_Maker's_Wife]

We have a lot of bats around here, mostly Little Brown Bats. Sometimes we will find one eating moths and bugs attracted to the outside light. In the winter, we will have one or two spend a few nights with us under the alcove dining and taking cover there. We don't charge them. Right now there are about a dozen little frogs taking advantage of the same thing. Both of these are beneficial creatures I like having around.

Arjay, I hope you don't see any more rabid creatures about. Beware of any scratching sounds on your window at night.

 

[6518John]

One morning, just as the Sun was rising, I watched about two dozen bats call it a night and crawl through my neighbors gable vent. I like Bats, so I never did tell them about it. What they don't know won't hurt them.

One of my neighbors has bats in his belfry too.

 

[Watchdog]

I think my neighbor's crazy...

He told me yesterday I've got bats in my belfry.

I went up there and looked, didn't see nary a one.

I think he was just funnin' me.

 

[Stevens]

It is strange, there used to be lots of bats in this area. Years ago we used to see them flying around at dusk. I haven't seen one in at least 20 years, I don't have any idea what might have happened to them. I used to enjoy watching them flying around.
Steve W

 

[Jinglebob]

We have bats that fly every evening. I have seen the large owls catch them in flight. Awesome!

 

[Mr.Harry]

My pal's 6 yr old son contracted rabies. From a bat. Old farm-house in southern Maine. They were all over it immediately and witnessed the bite or scratching. Still, not so fun to deal with. Lots of guilt.

 

[Watchdog]

It is strange, there used to be lots of bats in this area. Years ago we used to see them flying around at dusk. I haven't seen one in at least 20 years, I don't have any idea what might have happened to them. I used to enjoy watching them flying around.
Steve W

Bats...the little brown bat in particular, and predominantly in the east...have fallen prey to a disease called White Nose Syndrome. The disease is slowly spreading into the midwestern and western states.

It's a fatal fungal disease, and since 2012, it's estimated to have killed almost 20,000,000 bats. Yes, that's 20 million.

Caves which formerly featured bat sightseeing tours are now being closed to all but accredited researchers and scientists. Bat Cave, North Carolina...just past Chimney Rock...has been closed for years and years. We used to vacation at Chimney Rock and Lake Lure when I was a little boy. I remember there was a narrow swinging bridge leading to the cave's entrance, the boards were rotting away back then. So I never got to go into the cave. I think the old bridge has been replaced with a covered bridge now.

Bat Cave even had a little newspaper called Bat Biz, but I don't believe it's been published for over ten years.

It's a nice area to visit, especially when all the tourists and other assorted flatlanders have gone.

 

[shouldazagged]

I like bats, appreciate their munching mosquitoes, and would love to mount bat houses in a couple of the huge red oaks and black maples on the grounds of this apartment complex for independent seniors.

But all the old biddies here--the same ones who grouse about mosquitoes eating them up when they sit outside in the evening--would absolutely freak out. "Oh, they get in your hair, they all have rabies," etc., etc. I think some of them have watched to many vampire flicks.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

We have them in the barn & woodshed. we let 'em be. They take care of flying bugs & skeeters.

 

[Peak53]

Maybe white nose disease. Maybe rabies. Maybe tobacco. All fatal. See Old Yeller.

 

[federali]

Bats Needed

If you regularly get eaten alive by mosquitoes, you'd wish for a colony (or is it flock?) of bats in the neighborhood. They are hell on annoying insects.

 

[500SNW]

If you regularly get eaten alive by mosquitoes, you'd wish for a colony (or is it flock?) of bats in the neighborhood. They are hell on annoying insects.

People used to put up Purple Martin houses for the same purpose. I don't see them as often as I did when a kid. Some of the older farmhouses have them. They are quite elaborate and expensive looking....which I guess explains why they've fallen out of favor.

 

[HorizontalMike]

I live near Bracken Cave and my better half volunteers there often. She's also worked at Carlsbad Cave, and others.

BTW, Bracken Cave has the largest concentration/maternal-population of mammals in the World. Don't have to worry about mosquitoes much around here...
Bracken Cave