Bat House Forum

[cloudman75]

Janeylou,
I just checked my attic louver. Over in the corner in the warmest part there is a tiny bat which looks like my old friend that has been with me for several years. It is in deep sleep in a horizontal position, no hanging by its feet but lying on the bottom wood structure of the louver. I will not disturb it as attempts to take a photo in the past have failed due to the somewhat rusty screen behind the louver which keeps varmints out of the attic. The temperature right now is 1 deg. C.
Tonight's forecast is minus 10 deg. C. We had snow flurries this morning. I don't understand how this bat survives these conditions and I am not sure what species it is. It appears to be an evening bat or a pipistrelle. Anyway, I am fond of the little creature and hope it knows what it is doing by staying here and not heading for a cave, or someplace warmer.
Just thought that you may be interested as this is somewhat unusual behavior for a bat under these conditions. There are several old wasp nests adjacent to the bat which may help to keep it warm, I don't know, just a guess. This bat will exit on warm days here in Georgia during the winter and I think gets some water and maybe feeds as we have some insects flying here during the winter warm spells. It somtimes moves to one of my bat houses in winter on warm spells.

Frank