Bat House Forum

by **cloudman75** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:01 pm

Bats and wasps can live together in a bat box without conflict.

Frank

by **William Bagwell** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:21 pm

Since the wasps do not appear to be on a nest I'm wondering if those are newly hatched queens that are hibernating? Every winter we find a few in our house and they are always in the coldest parts of the house. Apparently they seek out dry sheltered places to over winter. Never been stung by one in the winter but it is always startling to find one when you least expect it.

William

by **cloudman75** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:49 pm

Preview: Re: Bats Cohabit With Wasps

William, I don't know the answer to that question. There is a house next door that has a large nest in the attic. The edge of the nest can be seen in a photo I took. The little bats still use the attic but now the wasps apear to have left the nest. Earlier they covered the nest and did not seem to bother the bats.
The bottom cavity extends up into the attic. The wasp nest is hanging over the edge about in the center. Also there is a daubber's nest and a couple of wasps
in the top. This is a warm box with an attic and seemed to attract more insects.

Frank

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by **Dave Miller** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:33 pm

Yes I have bats, wasps, mud daubers & ladybugs together in my bat houses. In fact I wonder if there may be some beneficial relationship between bats & wasps (e.g. wasps eat "bat bugs"). I posed that question to the refuge biologist (who used to study bats) and he was going to ask his peers.

by **cloudman75** » Thu Oct 27, 2011 1:48 am

Dave,
I will be interested to read what they think also and especially whether they eat or kill bat bugs.

Frank

by **Dave Miller** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:32 am

I bugged the biologist again, here is his reply:

I had asked a couple folks whom I worked with back east about any sort of relationship and no one knew of any.

The ability to share some sites might be due to the wasps having more tolerance of regular disturbance and not minding the bats being there if they're usually present. Or maybe the breeding seasons (and the need for lots of heat) is different so they may not always use the roosts at the same time.

Wasps are less active in the evening when the bats are more active so that could also reduce conflicts.

Sorry I don't have anything definitive on this, but there is so much that is unknown about bats and not nearly as much general natural history info as there is for aesthetic birds or large mammals.

by **Terry Lobdell** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:39 am

My observation box at Woodcock Creek Nature Center is highly infested with bat bugs........and there are no wasps in this box at all......the more boxes I mount, the more of a correlation I am beginning to see.........a few wasps don't seem to bother the bats at all.......

by **William Bagwell** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:50 am

Sounds like a few hi-resolution critter cams are needed. Try to catch not only a wasp eating a bat bug, but also the interaction between the wasps and bats.

Bummer about your accident!

William

by **Terry Lobdell** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 3:42 am

Thanks William........I am now wearing a back brace for the next 3 months........hopefully will have time to post some pictures and do some other projects I am behind on..........

by **cloudman75** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 7:07 pm

This shows my little friend up close with his friends, red wasps side by side. This is Nov. 2, 2011. I only have about 30 bats tonight. Most of the freetails left when the temps dropped to near freezing this week.

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Frank

by **Bats3** » Fri Nov 04, 2011 2:17 pm

Amazing!

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