Bat House Forum

[LarryH]

This weekend, we happened to stop again at the RV Park in Indiana that was responsible for me getting interested in bats many years ago. Just outside the campground is an old barn that has been left over from farming days, before all the land became housing developments, and that barn had bats in it that came out nightly to search for insects throughout the campground and surrounding area. I had asked one of the local residents if the barn still had bats, and was assured it did but they didn't know how many. As luck would have it -- well, not exactly luck, but more a request -- our RV sites was the one nearest the barn.

This evening I was working on the RV to make some repairs when I noticed something fly past me and over the RV. As soon as I looked toward the barn, I saw the emergence of the bats from the vent near the roof of the barn. A few came out, and then there was a pause, followed by a few more and another pause. Soon, there was a mass exodus of bats. Unfortunately, by the time I thought about getting the camera, they were all gone. I could not have even began to count all the bats, even if I'd had the clicker with me -- the size of the group as they came out was much to heavy to even guess a number. Even though the heat index has been over 100 degrees, that apprently didn't bother the bats in the old barn.

I'm glad we had an opportunity to stop at the campground again to re-visit the bats, and I hope that before they decide to tear down that old barn somebody puts up bat houses to house these most helpful bats. It is really nice having a bug-free campground.

[Dave Miller]

You say the campground is bug-free - what sort of bugs would you expect to find? There is a lot of talk about mosquitoes & bats, how bats don't really make a dent in the mosquito population because bats eat mostly moths, beetles & flies. However I have spoken with people who have a bat colony in their attic, who live near water with lots of trees & shrubs - ideal mosquito territory. They said they have no mosquitoes at all.

So IMHO bats do not have mosquitoes at the top of their menu, but when there are a lot of bats concentrated (such as near a colony), they will take most any insect, not just their favorites. I am trying to find out whether or not that is true.

[LarryH]

Since the campground is on a river, and has a swampy pond of it's own, I would expect to see mosquitoes -- seems to be normal for most campgrounds. Mosquitoes may not be the main faire for bats, but I know from my own property that the number of mosquitoes has dramatically decreased since putting up the bat houses. Even our neighbors have commented on how nice it is to be able to sit on the deck in the evenings without being attacked by mosquitoes, but they can watch the bats zip around the house lights catching bugs..

My introduction to bats was when I visited this campground many years ago – we were standing at the campfire discussing events of the day and bats were flying in and out around us catching bugs of various and sundry types, including the moths that are attracted to fire. One of the old timers told us of how the bats had been there for years and they were happy to have them help keep the bugs under control.

I know from experience that the bats do eat mosquitoes, but I doubt it is their primary source of food. I have seen them catch everything from moths to June Bugs under our night light. One June Bug would provide much more food for a bat than an entire nights worth of mosquitoes.