Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Couple of pests in my shop

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
    Posts
    12,120

    Couple of pests in my shop

    The Dungeon Shop resides in a small celler. Exposed joists overhead. And the other night? A pair of Bats were flying around about ....nose level. The only way out is either up the stairs to a closed door, or out through a couple crawl spaces. Celler is not full sized to the house, after all. The old coal bunker is also down there. Not sure HOW these two got down there....

    At least they were there for ONE night....didn't see them again. Maybe they crawled back out a crawl space?? They even left all the spiders alone...

    Anyone else have a problem with Bats?

  2. #2
    I don't think they hurt anything and they are great mosquito eaters. They are still suffering that "white nose" sickness. We used to see flocks of them at night ,now just one or two occasionaly.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    West Central Alberta, East of the Rockies - West of the Rest
    Posts
    656
    Had one in the kitchen one night several years ago, it was probably more confused than we were

  4. #4
    I wouldn't want them in the house but would love to have some in the yard eating the mosquitos. My wife is against me putting up a house to try and attract them. We have a bluebird house but didn't get any nesters this year.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Chocowinity, North Carolina
    Posts
    256
    A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were in Buffalo, NY visiting one of our daughters. At 3:00 in the morning we heard a fluttering noise in the room that turned out to be a bat. The room had french doors that were open due to the heat. There was a screen door in front of the open doors that the bat must have gotten through. I swatted the bat towards the screen door and closed the French doors, trapping the bat between the two doors. My wife found a small abrasion and a drop of blood on her side, so I took her to the emergency room of the local, suburban hospital. The exam was inconclusive and we were told, after an hour, that they weren't equipped to handle bat bites anyway. So, off we went to the main hospital in Buffalo proper. The doc said it really didn't look like a bat bite, but we would both have to have a series of four shots - just in case. The next morning, we called a local varmint guy to come to the house and see if the bat was still there. It was, and still alive. We took the bat to the health department and two days later they called to say the bat wasn't rabid.

    I got an education that night and learned that bats can be very dangerous - although the odds of a bat being rabid are small. Nonetheless, it's not a chance you would want to take. In times past, the treatment was 25 shots in the stomach - ugh! Nowadays, it's four shots in the butt, the first two given three days apart, and the second two a week and two weeks later.
    "A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths."
    -Steven Wright.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    El Dorado Hills, CA
    Posts
    1,311
    I didn't know how deadly bats can be. I do know that they can sneak through some really small cracks. They may have a 6-8" wingspan, but their body is really small. A 1/4" crack will let them get in.

    Steve

  7. Quote Originally Posted by Ernie Miller View Post
    In times past, the treatment was 25 shots in the stomach
    Yup. My 2 1/2 year old daughter went through the 25 in the stomach years back after being attacked by a feral cat. As a dad it was hard to watch.

    Back to the original subject though bats do a lot of good too.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Mandalay Shores, CA
    Posts
    2,690
    Blog Entries
    26
    Die Fledermaus are great little critters. I have a little bat house but right now no bats are residing (we don't have a great area for bats). I my youth, I ended up rehabbing many bats with my father. My brother was bitten once as a child. He was able to avoid the rabies shots to the stomach. Bats aren't carriers of rabies per se as I have been told, but they have a resistance to dying from the disease which makes bat bites more problematic.
    Shawn

    "no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."

    "I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Bloomington, IL
    Posts
    6,009
    I want to build some bat houses out here. I have the books to do it somewhere. I have seen them above the pond so I know they are around.

    I also have barn swallows out here. Its the most awesome thing seeing two dozen flying acrobatic maneuvers around my tractor when I mow as I stir up bugs for them. I really like it.
    Last edited by Mike Heidrick; 09-01-2015 at 6:59 PM.
    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
    Posts
    12,120
    The pair of bats seemed to have moved on to other locales...haven't seen them for a few days/nights. Not sure IF the Shop Cat scared them off....

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    6,394
    Lived in S Central Michigan for 12 years - wonderful small town of Eaton Rapids.

    All the houses around us were old - 1900 - 1920. Plus, that area is a great habitat for bats.

    You cannot seal up a house - a 100 year old house - to the point where bats cannot get in. It happens.

    Sooooo.....summer weekends, touring Eaton County yard sales, buying up badminton rackets for a buck.

    Stage them around the house. You grab one when a bat is flying towards you - with a good swing and a solid connection, you can damn near achieve bat escape velocity.............
    When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    North Alabama
    Posts
    548
    Quote Originally Posted by Kent A Bathurst View Post
    Lived in S Central Michigan for 12 years - wonderful small town of Eaton Rapids. All the houses around us were old - 1900 - 1920. Plus, that area is a great habitat for bats. You cannot seal up a house - a 100 year old house - to the point where bats cannot get in. It happens. Sooooo.....summer weekends, touring Eaton County yard sales, buying up badminton rackets for a buck. Stage them around the house. You grab one when a bat is flying towards you - with a good swing and a solid connection, you can damn near achieve bat escape velocity.............
    I did that at an apartment I rented in college. The building had an infestation, and one evening I made contact with one with my racquetball racket. The little guy must have called for reinforcements, because the bat density, already pretty heavy, seemed to triple within minutes. Yikes! I must not have swung hard enough.

    Soon after that the apartment maintenance squad had the bright idea to seal the openings where the bats would emerge. They did this during daylight hours, of course, while the critters were hanging around inside. Now, these apartments were not high end accommodations, and the units had drop ceilings. When the sun went down for the day, guess what--all of us top floor residents had extra guests. That was a night.

    Nowadays I leave them alone, appreciating what they do for the mosquito population.
    Chuck Taylor

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Pleasanton, CA
    Posts
    142
    Love bats, but you don't want them in your shop (or house for that matter)--their waste is pretty corrosive, and you'll find pitting in no time.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •