Meanwhile back at home…
You may remember that I reported some time ago that a tiny colony of bats had located at our house – on the outside, in a recess behind the cedar siding near the attic vents. Really, it was a perfect location for them.
Perfect for the bats; not so perfect for us because of the massive amounts of guano they dropped onto the driveway below.
We had contracted the local wildlife management firm, Varmint Busters, to do an ‘exclusion,’ (the industry term for ‘plugging up all the holes to keep out what you don’t want in!). They came to our house in early May and told us that they could not do an exclusion at that time because of the fact that our bats - turns out they are officially Big Brown Bats - had just had babies (‘pups,’ as I read online).
The baby bats, which could not fly, are protected by law. They can’t be excluded until they can fly. So, in the meantime, we waited for six weeks. We learned as much as we could about bats and we enjoyed the fact that our lawn has been mosquito free all summer long!
As Holly was preparing to go to France last week, she was trying to think about conversation starters to promote dialogue between her and her French host family. I suggested the bat stories would be fascinating fodder for conversation. We even translated ‘bat’ online and found the French word is <<chauve-souris>> (literally translated as ‘bald-headed mouse’).
In an upcoming communique’ with Holly, I will have to give her the latest news in the Gary bat saga. Varmint Busters came back today to effect the ‘exclusion.’ The Big Brown Bats are officially gone.
They confirmed this when they got up to the spot where the bats have been roosting, they found no one there. They double checked the attic as well. So, rather than needing to install the bat exclusion device (which consists of a long tube with a valve that prevents them from going back inside once they fly out), they merely had to finish plugging the hole.
I had noticed a sharp decrease in the output of guano starting around the middle part of last week. I wondered if that decrease might indicate that the bats relocated on their own. Sounds like that is the case.
I wish them well in their travels (and I wouldn’t mind if they happen to choose to stay near-by and continue to feed on mosquitos or any other undesirable insect - or even move into a new home near-by).
We certainly didn’t choose to have Big Brown Bats but it sure has proven to be an interesting conversation piece among friends, at church, at work and in the family. And when we look back on 2012, the bat story will definitely make our list of the top stories of the year.
JG
Originally posted 6/26/2012
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