Bat House Forum

[#93]

I have recently become interested in bats and am in the beginning stages of building my first bat houses.  I have also been doing a lot of reading on bats and most of the material focuses on the positive aspects of bats and debunking undeserved reputations for biting and being major rabies carriers.  I have spent a good deal of time out doors and have always seen bats since I was a kid I have also shared some caves with them when I used to do a lot of spelunking.  (Now that I know more I feel kinda bad about that but we always did our best to not bother anything in the cave, including bats.  I hope I did not harm any) Anyhow, bites and rabies were never a concern for me because I never knew bats to be aggressive towards people in even the slightest way.

Now that I have learned more, it is the guano that I am worried about.  More specifically any tapeworm eggs that may be in it.  I have a toddler, 12 YOA daughter and two dogs.  The possibility of my son and/or pets coming in contact with the guano will be very good with 3 bat houses in the yard.  

I am not worried about the other parasites bats may cary because I figure all the other animals that visit my yard are just as likely to have them and the deer, turkey, raccoons, rabbits and host of other animals I share my yard with are welcome and I am just as likely to get external parasites from them as I am a bat.  Not very.

The difference is those animals do not gather in large numbers, in the same place and drop their droppings in the same spot.  If I am lucky enough to get a good number of bats one or more of them is bound to have tapeworms, which would make the guano a hazard to my family.  

Am I worried about nothing or is this a legitimate concern? 

[cloudman75]

iNTERESTING SUBJECT #93. 

I did some reading after viewing your post as I had never considered the guano a hazard. You could put a small fence around the pile under your bat house to keep the animals away. From what I read, your dogs may be a worse threat than bats for parasites including tapeworms. However I know nothing about the subject except what I have read. I will be looking forward to reading all the replies you get.

I read this plus others on the net: http://members.cox.net/llyee/understand_parasites.htm

I am not concerned as I have no pets and I would not let my grandkids get close to the guano. I do not mount bat houses on my dwelling anymore but have them on poles in the back yard. I do use a shovel to spread the guano on my flower beds.

I do have deer, and many animals in the back yard on our 6 1/2 acres plus about 21 in back belonging to others.

 

Frank

[Dave Miller]

I don't know a lot about tapeworm biology but I am pretty sure tapeworms are passed along by pets eating fleas.  Our cat has gotten tapeworms a few times from eating mice that had fleas on them.  I suppose that a dog could get tapeworms the same way (eating a mouse or eating fleas off their own body), or from eating feces from a cat, dog, or other animal that had tapeworms.

I have never heard of dogs getting tapeworms (or any other disease) from bats.  I'm not sure if bats are susceptible to tapeworms.  If so the worms would have to be mighty small.

The only (extremely rare) risks from bats that I am aware of are rabies and histoplasmosis.  Regarding rabies, the rule of thumb is that if you see a bat on the ground, do not pick it up with your bare hands.  You should teach this to your kids when they are old enough, although the chances of finding a bat on the ground are mighty slim.  Of course you cannot teach this to your dog, but most dogs are vaccinated against rabies.

Histoplasmosis is some kind of fungus/spore thing which can grow in bird and bat droppings, mainly in the river valleys of the midwest.  The rule of thumb there is if you are breathing clouds of bird or bat droppings, wear a mask.   Generally this is only an issue if you are doing construction work in an attic which has had bats living in it for many years (or you live on a poultry farm!).

You should of course do your own research, but the bottom line is that if this were a big problem, we would be hearing a lot about it in this forum, and to my knowledge we have not.

[IowaNate]

  I have had two bat houses hung at my local nature center for well over 10 years with hundreds of bats in them. Needless to say the guano pile under each house was over 18" in diameter and 2" deep in some cases.

  Numerous school field trips of K-12 kids visit the site monthly and noone has ever gotten sick from the droppings.

  Histoplasmosis is about the only concern from bat droppings, and this fungus spore needs warm humid climates to become active (a warm leaky attic for instance) so bat droppings on the ground in the sun and wind would have little or no chance of transferring this spore which can cause flu and asthma-like symptoms.

  I wouldn't be concerned, but a tray about 4 feet off the ground under the house to catch most of the droppings could be used if you are still unsure.

 

[#93]

Thanks for the replies everyone.  I saw a link here, can’t find it now, that mentioned bats can cary tapeworms.  After reading the responses and looking for more info on bats and tapeworms (can not find any) I am no longer worried about it.  As a mater of fact I have started construction on 3 bat houses.  I hope to have them finished and hung in the next few weeks ready for bats to move into in the spring/summer.