OT: night critter coming to visit

Oat Bucket Farm · #1 04/26/12, 09:58 AM

This fellow (or lady?) keeps using my front porch as a resting place at night. Kind of cute in a fluffy, flying, Chihuahua sort of way. He (she?) is probably the reason we don't have many mosquitoes bothering us.

OT: night critter coming to visit - Goats

OT: night critter coming to visit - Goats

AuntKitty · #2 04/26/12, 10:35 AM

Cute! I have one too. I wish he/she would get a mate and multiply as the mosquitos are awful here this year! Maybe if I play some Barry White outside around dusk...

Backfourty,MI. · #3 04/26/12, 10:43 AM

Cool! I like having the bats around because like you said they eat those mosquitos right up!
Hubby built me 2 bat houses now I just have to get him out there to hang them(You know that means I'll be hanging them!).

Natural Beauty Farm · #4 04/26/12, 12:13 PM

Nice looking fellow you have there.
He is a lone male, so you will not see a female with him. The females set up nurseries in old attics, bat boxes, tree bark.
Can't tell for sure, but if it looks like he has been into powdered sugar, call your local DNR and let them know. We are trying to track populations and find the locations of bats that might survive a European disease that is wiping out all the bat colonies here in the US. Right now we are estimating that 95% of all our bats will die in the next three years, but since the European bats carry antibodies it is a theory that they went through the same process 50-100 years ago and developed a resistance.

If anybody ever finds a dead bat colony or a tagged bat, please contact their DNR offices.

Oat Bucket Farm · #5 04/26/12, 12:22 PM

No, he doesn't look like he's been into powdered sugar, is that a sign he might have whatever disease is killing them?

So he's a guy, and a bachelor. So that's why he's so messy and leaves poop all over the porch. LOL

Ford Zoo · #6 04/26/12, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Beauty Farm

Nice looking fellow you have there.
He is a lone male, so you will not see a female with him. The females set up nurseries in old attics, bat boxes, tree bark.
Can't tell for sure, but if it looks like he has been into powdered sugar, call your local DNR and let them know. We are trying to track populations and find the locations of bats that might survive a European disease that is wiping out all the bat colonies here in the US. Right now we are estimating that 95% of all our bats will die in the next three years, but since the European bats carry antibodies it is a theory that they went through the same process 50-100 years ago and developed a resistance.

If anybody ever finds a dead bat colony or a tagged bat, please contact their DNR offices.

Thanks for the info. Honey bees and now bats, with all the other multitude of weird Happenings since we were all kids (who-ever heard of autism 20 years ago?). What are we doing to our environment?

On a lighter note, we have had the opportunity over the years to go fishing and such in areas that unknown to us had large bat populations. Never a bug bite and the little guys kept swooping around, even running into our lines, but never bothering us. Not only are they cute, but a great eco-friend!

Oat Bucket Farm · #7 04/26/12, 12:40 PM

I guess our porch is a nice spot for him. It has a tall, peaked roof. His about fifteen or so feet up in that pic, and well protected from the elements there.

Ford Zoo · #8 04/26/12, 12:50 PM

So he's hanging? I thought he was on the floor

Blue Run Farm · #9 04/26/12, 01:30 PM

Wow, he is beautiful! We have bats, wish we had more though. We see them sometimes swooping around near dusk

What does the powdered sugar look mean? I really hope all our bats don't get sick and die, they are so nice to have around.

CaliannG · #10 04/26/12, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuntKitty

Cute! I have one too. I wish he/she would get a mate and multiply as the mosquitos are awful here this year! Maybe if I play some Barry White outside around dusk...

Bat's hearing is more specialized to the higher frequencies. Play some Josh Groban instead.

RedSonja · #11 04/26/12, 02:33 PM

What a cute little guy.

I know we have bats around here, I see them swooping around at dusk. I've wanted for many years to make some bat houses and hang them everywhere, but it's pretty low down the priority list of the hundreds of projects we have waiting to be done.

-S

Ford Zoo · #12 04/26/12, 02:44 PM

I've always wondered if they hibernate? Seem too little to last all winter without any bugs to eat.

Karenrbw · #13 04/26/12, 03:14 PM

He looks really well fed. We will probably wish we had a few around here in another month or so.

Oat Bucket Farm · #14 04/26/12, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ford Zoo

So he's hanging? I thought he was on the floor

Yep, he's hanging on to the cedar siding there. I've never seen him on the floor. Only high up. Last year we had a smaller, blacker one that would stop by, this guy is much prettier.

LoneStrChic23 · #15 04/26/12, 11:04 PM

Aww he is cute in a creeptastic sort of way

We had bats here in decent numbers 07-09, only saw one in 2010, & none since then

Wish there were more....

LFRJ · #16 04/27/12, 12:36 AM

Totally cool. If I were you, I'd invest in bat housing (make your own, ask 4-H to make you some, or whatever) to invite the rest of the tribe. Bat,, as you're likely familiar, have gotten a bad rap - but are indeed healthy to the environment, and hard on flying insects.

I think he's hansdome!

Oat Bucket Farm · #17 04/27/12, 10:21 AM

My husband spent a couple of hours last night researching bat houses.