Well there I was talking on the radio when there was a blood curdling scream that sent shockwaves down the stairs and into the living room. The wife looked at me and off I went to investigate.
I walked upstairs and to my sons room where my son sat on his bed and my 14 and 9 year old daughters stood in the doorway pointing and screaming and there on the wall was a BAT!!! It was about this time last year we had one of these little flying fox in the house that I had grabbed with a pair of leather reptile gloves I use for handling larger snakes and my Monitor lizzards. I gently took the critter out and released it.
I tried twice to catch lastnights critter and I again didnt want to hurt it but it got away and hid and hid good I must say. Well at about 10:00 this morning my son found it on the wall and the wife trapped it in a little tub or container so out I took it.
The kids wondered why I was so careful as not to hurt (tear a wing) or kill the bat I told them I remember studying bats in school and the amount of Mosquitoes the bat ate in one night was incredible.
"Some species of bats, such as the Little Brown Bat which is what we cuaght, can eat 500 - 1000 mosquitoes in one hour. So if we consider the night 8 hours, that can add up to 4000 - 8000 in a night."
Well now today I have to try and find where this thing had gotten into the house which should be a real treat considering these brown bats are really small and can flatten out to make themselves really thin. The hunt is on but I am thinking I have it figured out already. 1 last year 1 this year I guess isnt really anything to really worry about but try telling that to my kids who are just terrified becauseas most of us know bats are known to be a carrier of Rabies.
I walked upstairs and to my sons room where my son sat on his bed and my 14 and 9 year old daughters stood in the doorway pointing and screaming and there on the wall was a BAT!!! It was about this time last year we had one of these little flying fox in the house that I had grabbed with a pair of leather reptile gloves I use for handling larger snakes and my Monitor lizzards. I gently took the critter out and released it.
I tried twice to catch lastnights critter and I again didnt want to hurt it but it got away and hid and hid good I must say. Well at about 10:00 this morning my son found it on the wall and the wife trapped it in a little tub or container so out I took it.
The kids wondered why I was so careful as not to hurt (tear a wing) or kill the bat I told them I remember studying bats in school and the amount of Mosquitoes the bat ate in one night was incredible.
"Some species of bats, such as the Little Brown Bat which is what we cuaght, can eat 500 - 1000 mosquitoes in one hour. So if we consider the night 8 hours, that can add up to 4000 - 8000 in a night."
Well now today I have to try and find where this thing had gotten into the house which should be a real treat considering these brown bats are really small and can flatten out to make themselves really thin. The hunt is on but I am thinking I have it figured out already. 1 last year 1 this year I guess isnt really anything to really worry about but try telling that to my kids who are just terrified becauseas most of us know bats are known to be a carrier of Rabies.
