I have a bat! - Page 2

AlittleSalt · October 7, 2018

As Worth has already written - there are a lot of bats in Texas - especially fruit bats. Bats like areas where there is water nearby. A tank, lake, creek, river etc. Those places draw in insects like mosquitos. San Antonio, Texas is another place where the bat population brings in tourists just to see them.

I have my experiences with bats and they have all been good. Now, I'm interested in how they fare in Newfoundland, Canada. It gets cold here in Texas too. A night of 10F or -12C happens here, and we still have bats. It could be that yours has become used to the weather there?

imp · October 7, 2018

Your bat friend may freeze to death without a colony to help warm him in the cold. Plus, bats are social animals.

bower · October 7, 2018

Salt, there are at least two species of bats that are native to Newfoundland, so they must be adapted to winter over. We know they are common in other parts of the island that are further north, so the mystery is not their winter survival, only why they aren't commonly found here in the more southeastern part.
I don't think there is anything like a cave around here, where a bat colony would be snug for the winter, and that is the only reason that makes sense to me, why we don't have them.
OTOH I agree, the chances of one little bat on it's own are not great! The southeast eave of my house is probably the more sheltered place available to spend the winter, but it's going to be cold enough there in January, for sure.

brownrexx · October 7, 2018

Many bats from Canada will fly south for the winter and others hibernate in places like caves, rock piles, mines or old buildings.

Worth1 · October 7, 2018

I saw a show where a woman's whole attic was infested with bats and the droppings were probably over a foot deep in the attic.

sjamesNorway · October 7, 2018

Here's an interesting local (to you) article: http://theindependent.ca/2015/08/08/...s-in-my-attic/ There are lots of bats in Norway, so they should have no trouble surviving in your climate. They just have to find any frost-free shelter to hibernate in - not necessarily a cave.

Steve

swellcat · October 7, 2018

Bat guano is one of the touted ingredients in Texas Tomato Food. Seems to me, having the poo makers onsite would be a gift from the gods for tomato growers.

bower · October 7, 2018

Thanks for that article, Steve. This is on the Avalon in fact not so far from us in Conception Bay at all. I wondered if there were bats on the Southern Shore, apparently there are.

This may be not quite the right time for the lost bat to make a seasonal move, but maybe as November draws near this little bat will fly off to wherever they normally go for the winter.

Maybe back next year with friends?

Gotta say there are a LOT of moths in this area. Some years there are so many moths, the whole side of the building is just covered in em

(I'm sure I have a pic somewhere from a few years ago it was ridiculous!) Pretty sure the bat is finding it a decent place to feed, so if it turns out to be normal for bats to wander around and rejoin their crew, it may well get the mommies in on the action.

Fine by me (but I'd rather build a box than have them in the attic).

Nan_PA_6b · October 7, 2018

They don't necessarily need caves. There aren't any caves where I live & we have bats. Not sure what they do in winter, but they survive somehow.

Congrats on the bat.

kurt · October 7, 2018

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-nose_syndrome

This might be some issues ,bat fert,been around long time,in the archives.

AlittleSalt · October 8, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

They don't necessarily need caves. There aren't any caves where I live & we have bats. Not sure what they do in winter, but they survive somehow.

Congrats on the bat.

It's the same way in our local area. There are no caves that I know of, and I've done a lot of exploring starting back in 1980. Before that, I was a city boy.

I would also like to say, congrats on the bat.

kurt · October 8, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by bower

"scary though when they zip bye"
The first time I saw bats, we were living in Colombia and had a vacation in Santa Marta on the coast. There were lights in the pool so we could swim at night and that was fun, but... turned out bats were divebombing the pool to skim insects off the surface at night.

So my first encounter with a bat was not seeing it but getting clipped by something as I got out of the water. And then we just watched in amazement... they were all over it.

Night swims.. not so interesting.

Been there plenty times,they use a lot of guano in their local cannabis celebrity strain Santa Marta Gold ,air ,sun dried.Wars have been fought over bat crap.I use a lot of concentrate for maters and others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano

bower · October 8, 2018

Tx for bats congrats.

brownrexx · October 8, 2018

Bats do not always hibernate in caves, they just need a protected place to huddle together. They can use dead trees, rock piles, abandoned houses or barns or many other places that you might not think of. In colder areas they may migrate south to a warmer location for the winter but they will still hibernate in the same type of places once they get there.

brownrexx · October 9, 2018

I was thinking about the cave issue today and you may not think that you have caves in your area because you are thinking about big caves like in TX but a pile of a few boulders can have spaces between them that make protected little caves for bats to hibernate in. During the summer they sometimes roost under loose tree bark. They don't need a big space to consider it a good place to spend the winter. It doesn't have to be a real cave like we could walk into although they would like that too.

October 7, 2018	#17
imp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 4,832	Your bat friend may freeze to death without a colony to help warm him in the cold. Plus, bats are social animals. __________________ I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing.

October 7, 2018	#22
swellcat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Cowtown, Texas – 7B/8A Posts: 192	Poo Bat guano is one of the touted ingredients in Texas Tomato Food. Seems to me, having the poo makers onsite would be a gift from the gods for tomato growers.

October 7, 2018	#25
kurt Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Homestead,Everglades City Fl. Posts: 2,501	https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-nose_syndrome This might be some issues ,bat fert,been around long time,in the archives. __________________ KURT

October 7, 2018	#16
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	As Worth has already written - there are a lot of bats in Texas - especially fruit bats. Bats like areas where there is water nearby. A tank, lake, creek, river etc. Those places draw in insects like mosquitos. San Antonio, Texas is another place where the bat population brings in tourists just to see them. I have my experiences with bats and they have all been good. Now, I'm interested in how they fare in Newfoundland, Canada. It gets cold here in Texas too. A night of 10F or -12C happens here, and we still have bats. It could be that yours has become used to the weather there?

October 7, 2018	#18
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Salt, there are at least two species of bats that are native to Newfoundland, so they must be adapted to winter over. We know they are common in other parts of the island that are further north, so the mystery is not their winter survival, only why they aren't commonly found here in the more southeastern part. I don't think there is anything like a cave around here, where a bat colony would be snug for the winter, and that is the only reason that makes sense to me, why we don't have them. OTOH I agree, the chances of one little bat on it's own are not great! The southeast eave of my house is probably the more sheltered place available to spend the winter, but it's going to be cold enough there in January, for sure.

October 7, 2018	#19
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	Many bats from Canada will fly south for the winter and others hibernate in places like caves, rock piles, mines or old buildings.

October 7, 2018	#20
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I saw a show where a woman's whole attic was infested with bats and the droppings were probably over a foot deep in the attic.

October 7, 2018	#21
sjamesNorway Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Norway Posts: 1,049	Here's an interesting local (to you) article: http://theindependent.ca/2015/08/08/...s-in-my-attic/ There are lots of bats in Norway, so they should have no trouble surviving in your climate. They just have to find any frost-free shelter to hibernate in - not necessarily a cave. Steve

October 7, 2018	#24
Nan_PA_6b Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 3,194	They don't necessarily need caves. There aren't any caves where I live & we have bats. Not sure what they do in winter, but they survive somehow. Congrats on the bat.

October 8, 2018	#28
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Tx for bats congrats.

October 9, 2018	#30
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	I was thinking about the cave issue today and you may not think that you have caves in your area because you are thinking about big caves like in TX but a pile of a few boulders can have spaces between them that make protected little caves for bats to hibernate in. During the summer they sometimes roost under loose tree bark. They don't need a big space to consider it a good place to spend the winter. It doesn't have to be a real cave like we could walk into although they would like that too.