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01 Mar 12 - 08:20 PM (#3315874) Subject: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert Well, well, well... Some of you might know that I had between 150 and 200 bats living on the screen sin my attic vents so I have been taking one vent at a time, building a triangular frame with hardware cloth sandwiched between two triangles and screen on the backside... This all had to be done before the bats returned from hibernation... Well, 7 vents (each a slobber knocker) and after plugging away since last November... This evening I waited until the 4 bats who have arrive early this year to leave and then installed the last one from a 32 foot ladder using the headlights of my Toyota truck... Whew!!! Oh yeah... I did install to wonderful bat boxes on either end of the house so hopefully the little darlings will be happy... Just not pooping down a screen into my attic... BTW, don't ask about the clean up I had to do in the attic... Disgusting!!! B! |
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01 Mar 12 - 09:39 PM (#3315905) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Rapparee Did you know that bat shit was used as a source of saltpeter during the 19th Century? You could make your own saltpeter...great in YOUR mashed potatoes, or you could make your own gunpowder. Bat shit is also a good fertilizer for your garden. Good stuff, bat shit, and here you have dispossessed some poor little bats. Dracula will gitcha for this! |
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01 Mar 12 - 10:11 PM (#3315916) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert Heck with makin' ammo, Rap... Do you realize that the stuff is bringing $20 a pound in High Times magazine??? I mean, this shit is considered the best fertilizer for weed known to mankind... (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((cough)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) B~ |
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01 Mar 12 - 10:47 PM (#3315927) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Gurney I thought wine-drinkers guano was the best for gunpowder. Maybe Rap could import some flying foxes from Oz. Maybe the filth should feed genetically-modified bats with charcoal and sulpher and phosphorus, and get self-exploding guano. That should save them helicopter hire. Make it dicey to live near Bobert, though. |
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01 Mar 12 - 11:11 PM (#3315929) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Rapparee Nah, white-nose disease is affecting the bats in the US and it wouldn't be fair to flying foxes. |
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02 Mar 12 - 05:03 AM (#3316009) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: maeve Well done, Bobert. That has been quite a job. Thanks for not falling off the side of the house. |
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02 Mar 12 - 06:16 AM (#3316027) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: GUEST,Patsy I am so glad that you evicted them painlessly I am impressed well done. |
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02 Mar 12 - 08:44 AM (#3316066) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert Well, maeve, some of the setups were a tad on the creative side... Especially 2 that I had to build scaffolding using a ladder jack on one end and roof on the other... Plus they were the 2 largest and had to be constructed as left and right halves... I'm going to buy a pair of cheap pantie-hose today and collect some bat poo and hang them from the new bat boxes to attract them to their new home... BTW, each bat box holds up to 300 bats... B~ |
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02 Mar 12 - 09:54 AM (#3316091) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Rapparee Poor ol' Bobert. He's gone bats. Listen, you got all them bats -- you got a Louisville Slugger? I'd shore like one. Wood, not one of them new kind. |
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02 Mar 12 - 10:25 AM (#3316113) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Becca72 Good on ya, Bobert for your kindness in relocating the bats. But more importantly... what is "screen sin"?? Some southern version of porn? |
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02 Mar 12 - 11:47 AM (#3316138) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: GUEST,leeneia Good for you, Bobert. I bet you feel that same exhausted exhileration that I used to feel the day after finals in college. |
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02 Mar 12 - 04:50 PM (#3316274) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: gnu Excellent job! Now, make sure you wear a proper mask on accounta bat shit is deadly. |
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02 Mar 12 - 05:31 PM (#3316300) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert Heck, I did the clean up a couple months ago and had the expensive mask on it that looks like a WW II gas mask... Screen sin, Becca, is somethin' I told yer oldman I would never tell you about but, yes, it is a southern thang... B;~) |
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02 Mar 12 - 07:23 PM (#3316354) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: JohnInKansas With an evicted crowd close at hand, you may get some renters in your new bat boxes more quickly than usual; but the advisors in my area say they're like wrens, and a new house needs to "weather" for a couple of years before it's likely to get occupied. This is not to suggest that you won't have better results than most, but more to the point of "don't give up too soon" if they don't move immediately. And I'm sure we'd be interested in progress reports, so put the "bat watch" in your subject list for later. I've considered putting up a couple of boxes, to see if they'd help to control the mosquitoes from the open sewer out back, but there's a definite lack of structures tall enough. And I have to check my hankie before I crawl up in the bed of my p'up truck in case I get a nose bleed from the altitude, and my tummy gets queasy on about the third step on my fairly sturdy stepladder. (Although I'm quite comfortable resting on the second step after the exertion of climbing clear up to there.) John |
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02 Mar 12 - 07:33 PM (#3316358) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert These houses were built by some bat preservation organization, John, so we are hoping to have renters this summer... I think having the poo there will make them happy... B~ |
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02 Mar 12 - 08:32 PM (#3316388) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: JohnInKansas There does seem to be lots of pretty good info on bat nesting, and quite a few people interested in setting up for them; although it's somethimes hard to tell who knows what they're talking about and who's just hallucinating a good story. Your own experience will be the best guide, if you can get things started with a colony. Of course, after living in your attic for a while, your particular bunch of bats may have acquired unusual personality quirks that wouldn't necessarily be representative of general bat social conventions. ... Did you ever have the notion that they were watching you? John |
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02 Mar 12 - 08:54 PM (#3316395) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert The bat houses are installed just below the vents where they used to live... Plus, we have lots of bugs... Fingers crossed... B~ |
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03 Mar 12 - 03:32 AM (#3316522) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Sandra in Sydney yes |
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03 Mar 12 - 02:05 PM (#3316725) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: gnu NO bats were harmed... Posted this before elsewhere. Bats can be used to occupy and tire out children before bedtime. I used to keep some broomstick handles at my camp and tell the kids I'd give em $5 for each bat they could bat. The skeeters would go after the kids, the bats after the skeeters. The bats loved teasing the kids... it was like a game they loved to play. Never lost a dime on that deal and the kids were so tired that they went to bed when they were told it was bedtime. Okay, since you asked me how I "knew"... my cousin was fraid a yer bats. The bats were after the skeeters around him but he was too stunned to figure that out. He cut a maple pole and defended himself. The more he breathed with the exercise, the further the skeeters came from. More skeeters, more bats. No hits. Ya can't hit a bat with a stick. |
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04 Mar 12 - 07:44 AM (#3317042) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Cats I have scrunched up chicken netting all the way round my house under the eaves to stop bats getting in. there are 4 or 5 colonies of rare species less than half a mile away and over here we would not be allowed to remove them once they are in. |
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04 Mar 12 - 11:21 AM (#3317124) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: GUEST,Eliza I have a friend who makes bat boxes to give away, and I was amazed to see he leaves a tiny narrow little slit at the bottom for them to squeeze in. It was less than 1cm wide. So I'm just wondering Cats, if your scrunched-up chicken netting may allow them to get through? |
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04 Mar 12 - 11:58 AM (#3317138) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert I've used "hardware cloth" which is a wire mesh with squares about 3/8 inch and then screen on the back side... Chicken wire might not work??? B~ |
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04 Mar 12 - 12:18 PM (#3317145) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Pete Jennings One of my cats used to be good at catching bats - she was jet black and she owned the night...we found one in the dining room one morning and put it in the garage 'till dusk, when we opened the big door and he was gone when we checked later. I used to use a plastic jug for the water to rinse my hair and one morning I got in the bath, filled up the jug and poured it over my head. Another bloody bat had been hiding in the jug and it bounced off my head into the bath water and I was out of there in about 5 nanoseconds flat! Jeez, my heart was going ten to the dozen. Scooped him out and put him in the garage till dusk. |
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04 Mar 12 - 12:30 PM (#3317149) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bettynh Hmm, the cat we had who caught bats was black, too. A bat flew in the window by chance in April one year, giving her the idea. She spent the summer on the roof (this was an old rowhouse on a hill, with gutters built into the brick facade that gave access to the roof on the next level) catching bats and bringing them home. Most often they'd still be alive and a lively race would commence - cat with bat chased by human - through the house and out the back door, where the cat would be persuaded to let it go. Fortunately, the cat forgot about bats during the next winter, and we only had one summer of races. |
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04 Mar 12 - 05:31 PM (#3317274) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: gnu 3/8" = 9.525mm Bats can squeeze into that... depends on what kinda bat. I wouldn't take any chances. Ya need some fine mesh. And don't use plastic. |
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05 Mar 12 - 05:17 AM (#3317462) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Penny S. I've seen pipistrelles crawl under tiles hung on the front of the flats where I used to live, and I think the gap was less than 9 mm, not as little as 5. They'd actually worn a curved arch off the back of the tiles. Penny |
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05 Mar 12 - 06:45 AM (#3317516) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Richard Bridge Someone has to do it. Dinner dinner dinner dinner - BATMAN! |
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06 Mar 12 - 11:42 AM (#3318238) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Becca72 I have two black cats...I hope they don't read this thread and get any ideas! |
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06 Mar 12 - 02:08 PM (#3318308) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: JohnInKansas We also have two black cats, but one's old and feeble and thinks that the only things edible have to be stuck to the end of mama's finger. (She got that started by feeding him bits of cream cheese off her morning toast years ago.) The other, curiously, refuses to eat "people food" of any kind, although he does occasionaly play with spiders and snakes. We don't have many of either left since he came a'board. Both of them are strictly "indoor cats" so unless it gets in the house we won't worry much about what they might get curious about. The hardware cloth is what's generally recommended for excluding bats in our area, and usually is fine enough here. Note that the 3/8 inch is the spacing of the wires, and once you deduct the wire diameter the actual hole is a little smaller, although not much. Most finer "screening" material can be bitten or clawed through, by bats or by other critters you might want to keep out - for the kinds of critters here. In this area, the easily available finer "window screen" stuff is all aluminum, and it's hard to find a steel/galvanized screen wire. Copper is also fairly easy to find, but too expensive for most of us now, for any use. Both of those are pretty "soft" and much too easy for bats/mice to chaw a hole through. A few places offer "expanded metal" screening that might be found with slightly smaller holes than the hardware cloth, but availability is "variable" and it's a little more expensive than the hardware cloth. John |
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06 Mar 12 - 04:12 PM (#3318375) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Becca72 John, my cats are indoor only, too...but I can see all hell breaking loose if a bat gets in. Funny about the one who won't eat people food...I have one of those, too. The only exception seems to be baby spinach. I don't know why. |
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07 Mar 12 - 06:45 AM (#3318593) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: GUEST,Eliza I'm stupidly terrified of spiders, so I understand people's fear of bats, but really they're very sweet. A tiny little pipstrelle (size of a baby mouse) was caught in the net curtain of my bedroom window one night. The poor wee thing was so cute. They're supposed to emit supersonic sounds but I could hear small squeaks. I gently wrapped it in my dressing gown and put it outside. Here in UK all bats are protected, and you're not even allowed to evict them from your roof space without permission and supervision from the wildlife folk. I've got batboxes in my garden high up on the trees. But I understand in other countries they can be a vector for rabies. |
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07 Mar 12 - 06:42 PM (#3318903) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: gnu Rabies is a concern in the Americas, but only if one is contacted with the saliva. Which is why, here, ya don't have physical contact with them. I was taught that batshit is deadly. It is because it *can* contain saliva... they can drool and they sleep upside down. It's fairly rare but it's possible. Other than that, ya gotta get bit. There are other sources of transmission but they are very rare. Those being getting the slaiva in your mouth, nose or eyes. So, don't kiss any bats. |
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07 Mar 12 - 07:52 PM (#3318932) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: JohnInKansas A recent article on one of the (pseudo) "science" pages mentioned in passing that cats communicate with their kittens at ultrasonic frequencies (that we can't hear). I'd not heard of that notion before, and haven't found any confirmation; but has anyone asked a bat what the kitty might have said? John |
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08 Mar 12 - 12:45 AM (#3319111) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: michaelr Well done, Bobert! Now you just gotta evict your other squatters... |
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08 Mar 12 - 07:52 AM (#3319431) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert Amen to that, michael... Seems that ain't gonna be easy as step-son won't take "just any job" or even a job that is temporary... BTW, no bats... So much for them being able to squeeze thru hardware cloth... B~ |
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08 Mar 12 - 07:09 PM (#3320201) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert But there is good news... The early-to-return bats have taken to the two bat houses I hung directly below two of their 7 former homes... Hooray!!! B~ |
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09 Mar 12 - 09:19 AM (#3320422) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Becca72 Bobert |
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09 Mar 12 - 09:26 AM (#3320426) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: Bobert I bet the dog was happy there weren't any real verses to learn... lol... No matter, I feel like batman... For my next batman trick I'm going to build a couple of screen to mount on the side of the house that will be mounted like shelves... They will directly under the bat boxes and as long as my gravity bill is paid the bat poo will drop down and be caught by these screened shelves... Then, every few days I collect the poo, put an ad in "High Time" magazine for the poo, pot growers everywhere send me cash for the poo and I end up a millionaire... Yazzir!!! I'm in the money... I'm in the money... B:~) |
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09 Mar 12 - 02:28 PM (#3320549) Subject: RE: BS: Bobert's Bat Eviction Completed!!! From: gnu More like batshit crazy. >;-) |