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Ray Ramirez
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| Joined: | Thu Oct 10th, 2002 |
| Location: | Maroa, IL |
| Posts: | 3 |
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Posted: Tue Dec 17th, 2002 09:36 pm |
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Hello everyone,
I am a veterinarian planning a presentation on West Nile Virus, and in discussion with natural mosquito predators, was going to introduce building bat houses as a way to attract thoase natural predators.
:idea: Rather than reinventing the wheel, I thought I would ask if anyone has done a presentation like this to a group before, and if they had an outline, or power point, or other presentation on the topic. I have BCI's latest bat house video.
Any and all sugestions are appreciated. When I complete the presentation, I can upload it for others to use, if there is interest. Thanks in advance
Ray Ramirez
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Posted: Wed Dec 18th, 2002 02:13 am |
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Ray,
One of the first questions you are going to be asked after the presentation
is a lot of educated people say bats don't eat a lot of mosquitos.
A University in northern Wis. mist netted approx. 400 bats in the back waters of the Mississippi River near La Crosse ,Wi. After taking the bats out of the nets they would put lemon juice in the bats mouths . The lemon juice causes bats to spit up what they have eaten in the last 4-5 minutes. Approx. 90% of what the bats had eaten were mosquitos.
Bat houses are much more success in the open country than in towns or urban areas. Towns and urban areas offer many more places and choices for bats to live.
I have had most success with bat houses in parks.
Bat houses do not have to be complicated or expensive. Some of the best bat houses are the the simpliest and easy to build. NOBODY has the answers to which locations or houses are the best.
The Rocket box, Oregon wedge bat house and any of the Penn. State designs are some of the best designs now. I am testing some different designs now for tree dwelling bats and have had a red bat and some Indiana bats use some of my houses.
If you would like my phone number post and I will e-mail it to you. I am 8 miles north of Galena , Ill. in Hazel Green, Wi. A good friend of mine grew up in Leroy, Il.
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Joe Spencer
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 11th, 2002 |
| Location: | Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 530 |
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Posted: Sat Dec 21st, 2002 03:31 pm |
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Happy Holiday's Everyone! Hey Ray I have done many presentations on bats and bat houses but not focusing on West Nile specifically. What I can say is that out of the two most abundant bats in your area (Big Brown Bat and Little Brown Bat) only the Little Brown bat will eat mosquitos. Also I believe some myotis and a few others do as well. I can share a relative story with you here: A few years ago a couple from ORANGE MASS. came to me with the walls and attic of their 30 year old home hosting a sizable nursery colony of Little Brown Bats. I believe they got a quote to "fix the problem" for a Few Thousand dollars from one or more contractor's but could not afford it. After coming to me I built them 4 bat houses and we erected them on their house. Two facing east and two facing West. Within a few days most of the bats relocated to the bat houses and after two weeks it appeared all of the myotis-L had. I told them to wait until fall when this species leaves buildings for hibernation and to seal up the known entries/exits. The bats have returned to the bat houses each year and seem quite content. :thumbup: NOW here is the GOOD STUFF. I went to their house a couple of times during a midsummer non-windy evening and stood outside at dusk. Not using deet protection since I was experimenting, I was then bitten by numerous female mosquitos for about 15 minutes until the bats emerged. 15 minutes AFTER the bats emerged I was only bitten once in a 10 minute time-span. These bats had devoured the majority of the mosquitos which were near the roost/bat houses before venturing out further. So as BCI and many bat bioligists have said these species do eat mosquitos when abundant and I've experienced it. This certainly sounds like a positive situation in at least lowering the chances of West Nile contraction right? and seems to jive with Kent's posted info above.... 
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Dave Miller
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| Joined: | Tue Jun 4th, 2002 |
| Location: | Washington USA |
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Posted: Fri Feb 28th, 2003 08:07 pm |
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Way to sacrifice your body in the name of science, Joe!
That reminds me of my most unusual job - a test subject in a mosquito repellant test. There were six of us locked in a room that had the heat cranked and humidifiers running, to simulate jungle conditions. Once an hour the researchers would come in with a big tray of clear boxes, each full of mosquitoes, which they strapped to our arm for a couple of minutes. The boxes had two holes, one where the repellant had been applied, and one where nothing had been applied.
Needless to say that spot without repellant was quite swollen by the end of the day!
Ah, the things you'll do for money as a starving college student...
Dave
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