Thursday, August 19, 2004
Since we moved into this house two years ago, I've always known there was some sort of mouse problem in the attic. The evidence in obvious, with a large number of mouse droppings around where the central chimney (that vents out from the oil-burner) passes through on the upper floor. There is also evidence of the previous owners' attempts to get rid of the little beasts through the use of D-Con poison and old fashion neck-breaker traps. I myself have laid out the D-Con and seen it consumed, and also noticed the piles of droppings dwindle slightly in size, so I've assumed I've had some effect in control the rodent population.
I hadn't been up to the attic in awhile, so a couple of nights ago I opened it up to look around and noticed that the D-Con was all consumed, and there was a LARGE amount of droppings. I've always assumed the mice come up from the basement somehow through the gap in the floors that lets the chimney through. There HAVE been mice in the house in the past, as we have found a few droppings in the kitchen before, but I've never understood why there would be so much up in the attic, and all in that one spot clustered around the chimney.
Anyway, I set out some new poison, and pondered returning at some future date to vacuum up the piles of droppings.
Last night I happened to wander out to my backyard before dusk. Every evening there is at least one to as many as three bats swooping around our backyard once twilight comes. They never bother me. I figure they chow on the mosquitos. It was a little early, still bright, but at that time just before the sun had started to recede. I saw maybe four or five bats fly over and thought, "Huh...a little early for them..."
Then I saw a few more. "Interesting...they must just be coming out for the evening...wonder why...they're coming around here, though..."
Then I noticed they seemed to be coming from the vicinity of my roof...then I noticed that they appeared to be emerging from some sort of gap in the shingles at the base of my chimney! And not one or two, I mean I saw four or five at a shot pour out of there.
Oh boy.
Check attic that evening...nothing. Mental note: Check attic when you come home tomorrow while it is still light.
So, this afternoon, when I came home from work, I changed my clothes, grabbed a flashlight and headed on up.
One bat:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
I am now in strategy plotting phase.
Anyone know if there's a market for bat guano these days?
ok, now that's COOL! I love bats...I have sat outside at dusk before with clouds of them swirling around me to catch the mosquitos I was attracting.
I've also had to remove one or two from the house....er...but not THAT many.
Good luck it, my friend...keep us up to date WITH pics!!
OK, you know bats are our friends, right? They kill mosquitos, they nurse their young, they have that incredible sonar thing going. So please, whatever, you decide to do, don't kill them.
You've got the turtle eggs in your yard, bats in the attic. Perhaps you just need a few more species and you could start an animal sanctuary.
Well, in case you want to relocate the bats, here are some tips:
http://www.batcon.org/
see Excluding Bats, under the Discover link on the left.
Friends don't crap on other friends' floors! Hell, if they didn't drop pellets they could even curl up in my new Sleep Number bed with me.
Uggg...thanks for the link. Looks like it's gonna be a bit of a project to get rid of them.
Ugggg! I had a nest of bats behind our shutters. I heard them squeeking and thought they were birds. Seems they were feeding on the beehive there. We had some guy come and relocate them.
Try to put up a bathouse out in your yard. Somewhere high and shady I would think. Then patch the hole in the roof and evict them. I havent read the provided link, but that would be my guess. Bats are good to have around, they keep the bugs controlled and i haven't met the mother inlaw yet that liked the idea of hanging around where they are ;)
Coincidentally, one of the other blogs I read is called BatWrangler who just had a post on how to deal with bats. Apparently, you need to be concerned about rabies. You can see her post here.
Strategy from Carpundit:
1. Find out where they get in. There may be more than one opening.
2. Wait until they're out for the day (er, evening) and block the access points.
3. Get a net and go up to the attic to pick up stragglers; release them in the yard.
4. Build or buy a bat house and stick it in your yard. Bats are Good.
Just beware that some towns (or neighborhoods with covenants) consider erecting a bathouse "breeding bats" which is/can be illegal. Someone in my neighborhood ran into that.
Thanks for the responses, and for the link, Leslie. I've got to figure a way to get up on the roof. It's...tall up there.
Ewwww! There is a market for bat guano, btw, it's a good soil amendment. Cut a few more holes in your attic & u could be in bizness.