Bats needed

[Riverrose28]

For over 30 years we have had bats living in our barn. Last year a virus wiped them out. Now I am over run with skeeters. I'm afraid for my horses I need some bats. Does anyone know where I can order bats to keep the skeeters under control?

 

[bevann]

Terry, try contacting Dept of Natural Resources for MD.I am sure they have agents in southern MD who would be able to help you.You might also try AG depts of U of MD for some contacts.I would also try the county extension agent(for universities)or your local community college for some contacts if you have them.Good luck.

 

[Riverrose28]

Thanks Bev, good advice, I'll stop by the extention office when I go to town. It wouldn't be so bad, except this year it won't stop raining, and even the martins (birds) didn't move back in this year. I never thought I would miss the bats!

 

[Mominis]

If you don't mind an old bat, I'd be happy to come out there and scare them off for you.

:rofl

Seriously though, good luck with your bat search.

 

[Katiean]

I hate bats!!!

When I was a kid we would be catching chickens at dusk to be butchered the next day and the bats would swoop down at our heads. I have a lot of hair and was always afraid a bat would get tangled in my hair. But then we did have some friends that had a bat they caught for a pet. This was around Medford OR.

 

[ruffian]

Bats don't eat mosquitoes as a main diet. If there is anything else to eat, they will eat that first. If you are overrun with the pesky critters, it's probably more due to the wet weather than the absence of bats.

 

[Miniv]

Bats are a necessary part of the cycle of life. I personally appreciate someone recognizing their value with pest control (like non-venomous snakes are.). If we wipe out critters like that - who have a purpose - we're messing up the eco-system.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Sonya]

we have tons of bats....and they do eat tons of skeeters, I've watched them do it. I like having them around...as long as they don't make their way to the attic! We were planning on putting up bat houses around our property to make sure they stick around. We researched it alittle...if you build it, they will come..lol...but you do need some bat pooh to put inside the house to encourage them. Not sure I want to mess w/bat pooh, it carries alot of diseases.

 

[Riverrose28]

We have a bat habitate in the barn, and they used to also sleep inbetween the boards on the lower level. I would much rather use natural preditors then sprays. Yes we do have a lot of wet weather here this year, but have in years past as well. Never thought I would miss bats, but I do. I also welcome the black snakes that help the cats get the mice, but my neighbor insists on shooting them. If you are afraid of bats, I'm sorry, I'm afraid of some things too, but Nature is better some times then chemicals. Every morning now when I go into the indoor to feed there must be a hundred skeeters, I'd rather have bats then then those blood suckers biting my horses and fly spray only lasts a little while. Going to town tommorrow and going to the county extension office.

 

[weebiscuit]

For over 30 years we have had bats living in our barn. Last year a virus wiped them out. Now I am over run with skeeters. I'm afraid for my horses I need some bats. Does anyone know where I can order bats to keep the skeeters under control?

I'm wondering if the virus was that "white nose disease" I've been reading about??? It's not supposed to be here in Wisconsin yet, or at least if it is it's not widespread at all yet.

I don't mid bats at all as long as they don't live in any building I need to be in, whether it's my barn or house. My son, whose farm is next to ours, had a huge bat population in his barn, but they also carried rabies, and he has two small children. Last year they were picking bats up off the barn floor every day. They made sure the kids didn't go near the barn but one day their 7 year old daughter wanted to get her pony's halter and went in the barn for it. There was a bat hiding behind the halter, and it bit her. She screamed, not so much because the bite hurt, but I think more so because she saw it and felt the bat's body on her arm. Her mom came running, killed the bat, and took it to the hospital. The hospital sent it to Madison for testing and it was positive, so granddaughter had to get the rabies' shots.

I can understand where you're coming from on the mosquitoes. Last year they were so bad here that you absolutely could not even move into a shadow during broad daylight or you'd be consumed by them! And forget about going outside in the evening! I've never seen them so bad as last year.