My Pet Bat
This little guy stays at the top of the rafters. You can barely see a little white spot top center.
That is the abandoned wasp hive, that he hangs out behind.
This little guy has been living here for 5 years. He hangs out here in warm weather, he flies all night, and he checks in about 6 am.
This wasp nest got abandoned 8 years ago.
He is a warm weather friend, after November 1, he will have flown the coop. He comes back in April.
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that's cool
What about bat guano in the grill? Good for potassium nitrate anyway.0 -
Bats are very beneficial to have around. I wonder where they go from November to April?
Hibernate or migrate?
I thought about putting up some bat boxes around here to get more bats. They eat a ton of mosquitos.
Don0 -
If they eat stink bugs -- I'll take a breeding pair.
'Round here the quano is going to be 2-feet deep in 6 months.0 -
Allen, did you hand hewn the logs yourself?
My 1947 Chestnut log cabin up in NY/NJ (literally right on the line.) Had hand hewn interior beams.
Loved them.
Natural Chestnut logs on the exterior. Hand stained and Thompson Water proofed every year. Unfortunately concrete chinking. Lots and lots of clear caulk lovingly applied and finger smoothed in to any upward leaning crack, (in the logs or the concrete chinking.) Researched Permachink. (An elastic spray on polymer that expands and contracts with the changing temps.)
Wish I could have brought that place down here to NE TN. while only 800sq ft. It had a very nice layout.
Except the bathroom and kitchen. Worlds smallest kitchen and bathroom. :? Made due as a newly divorced bachelor though. I loved that place. Hated to leave it.
Was paying roughly $500/mo. Property taxes on the cabin and roughly 1/4 acre, if that. Over $5K/yr. :shock:0 -
Yes I hewed the logs with an adze. However it was just for looks, I bought the logs cut flat on the sides from the sawmill. I went to a lot of work to get the "Davy Crockett Look" on the outside. White pine logs.
My house is low maintenance in part because, on the gable ends, 4 foot roof overhangs.
And on the long sides, porches with 14 foot long roofs. Hardly a rain drop ever hits my house.
My house is 23 years old. My only maintenance is, I stained it with latex stain, about 11 years ago. So important to have those roof overhangs, to keep rain, and sun, off of the house.
My chinking is a mixture of red clay, portland cement, and sand. The pioneers used red clay so, mine looks like red clay.
I invented this type of chinking, in that, the actual chinking is foam. In the middle of the 6 inch chinking space is 4 inches of foam, including plenty of Great Stuff spray in foam. This provides R16, plus is absolutely air tight.
Then, the red clay mix is on the outside, only 3/4 inch thick, for looks, plus to keep the sunlight off of the foam.
I used Permachink one time, on a cabin I built for my Mom in north Georgia. It came in 5 gallon buckets, it was like latex caulk, which, I guess, is what it is, cost $300 per bucket and I used 5 buckets. It is pretty easy to use, it remains pliable and won't crack. My red clay chinking does get lots of hairline cracks, that is Macht Nichts, because the foam is utterly air tight. The small cracks look rustic.
By the same token Mom spent $1500 on Permachink, I spent about 25 bucks for the chinking for my house.0 -
I have 4 that stay in one of my old wood storage buildings,,they are neat except for the bat shit 0 -
I have an attic full of bats , I don't have a lot of mosquitoes around here.
The down side is every morning there is bat poop on my Jeep0 -
brier-49 wrote:I have an attic full of bats , I don't have a lot of mosquitoes around here.
The down side is every morning there is bat poop on my Jeep
I also have an attic full of them (finished attic). They are in the knee walls.
It smells like there must be a crap ton of . . . umm . . . crap behind the walls.
From time to time they end up in the basement or living room / kitchen / dining room. Every now and then they wake me up at night by flying around in the bedroom.
I kill every one I can and toss them out in the yard. Please feel free to come by and pick them up there.
I HATE BATS IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:evil:
On an additional note: I kill all of the mosquitoes I can too.0 -
had bats roosting under the eaves of my house. left the windows open and they were flying around inside my house more than once. posted pics too. I don't like that, aside from the rabies they have some fearsome teeth. got to the point it was almost guaranteed that would happen if I kept leaving the windows open. so last time, I was installing that bigass back door, pouring sweat so of course I had the windows open, and stripped down to my underwear, and in comes a bat. trying to shoo it out with a broom in the hallway and it somehow chased me into the bedroom. I'm scared to death of getting bit by a bat, so I'm screaming like a little girl, in my underwear with a broom jumping around going AaEeEeeaaahhhAAEEEEEAAH I know my neighbors heard that. I whacked it and it hit the ground, thought I killed it. started gasping its last breath. felt sorry because I really didn't want to do that. but then it flew up a few feet in the air and wobbled down the hallway. I don't see how it possibly could have made it out the window, but I haven't found a dead bat yet. maybe the cat ate it. 0 -
btw they are absolutely, positively, 100% noiseless. even seen them hit the wall and fall on the floor with no noise. 0 -
buschmaster wrote:btw they are absolutely, positively, 100% noiseless. even seen them hit the wall and fall on the floor with no noise.
maybe you just didn't hear it over the screams.............0 -
I started using a bath towel. Just throw it up in the air and they would fly into it. When it hit the floor, they were wrapped up in it. Pick it up, Haul it to the door and shake it out. Bat would fly away.
Eventually I decided they were just flying away and would come back to the house - so I changed my tactics.
Bought a racquetball racquet. I am NOT a "ball sports" guy of any type, but I am starting to get pretty good at it.
They fly around in a circle. I swing my racquet. They go flying across the room and smack the wall. Of course, they were dead just as soon as I hit them with the racquet, but I gotta go find out where they landed. Now I use a downward stroke and they hit the floor.
Naturally, I have my "bat racquet ball" gloves on. Pick up the bat. It is usually dead, but sometimes it wasn't a good hit and they just have a broken wing - or some other physical issue. Pick it up and toss it out side. I don't know what happens after that, as they aren't there in the morning. Probably getting eaten by the cats - or maybe the mosquitoes. Either way - I don't care - and I have one less bat to deal with.0 -
rabid bats are a big deal in the midwest these days
News report indicates that a dog contracted rabies after a known interaction with a bat. It would take a box car load of bats to have any noticeable effect on my mosquito population and I'm not trading one booger for an even worse booger.0 -
We got some bat-0-phobia on this forum.
I remember when I was a kid, everybody hated bats, said they all had rabies, said if a girl went out in the yard at night, a bat would fly into her hair and get tangled up.
Funny, I never heard of a person getting rabies from a bat. I never knew a girl who got a bat stuck in her hair.
When I was building my log cabin down in Georgia, came in to work one morning, I went upstairs, there was a bat hanging upside down off the ceiling. Had the roof on, but no windows.
I knew this was not a good place for a new home for the bat. I got some thick leather gloves, I mean, it is just a big mouse with wings I was afraid he would bite me.
I picked him up. His fur was a beautiful chocolate color. His body was about 4 inches long. I held one wing tip between thumb and fingers, and pulled it out. The wing was about 5 inches long, it was translucent. You could see through it like an xray.
You could see the fine, delicate bones, and the blood vessels. The little guy was looking at me giving me a funny look.
I didn't even know if they could fly in the daylight but it was time for him to go. I tossed him out the window, and away he flew.0 -
Allen build a bat house.
I have 3 and it took a few years for them to become occupied but all 3 now have a colony of bats. I put them well away from the house and where the dogs hang out but these guys are hell on skeeters.0
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