An obnoxiously loud colony of bats has taken up illegal residence under our cabin. It likely is a maternity colony.
Many extol the virtues of these furry little flying mammals and, in trying to grasp the attraction and be positive about this experience, I read up on the flea infested, pestilential, disease-carrying blood suckers. Bats' diets can consist of fruits, flowers, leaves, insects, frogs and ...the blood of vertebrates. The menu all sounds rather fluffy until that last item. It would be the equivalent of a human browsing the fare at a little French cafe: "Hmmmm, I'll have some of those yummy sounding eclairs, a few cream puffs, some foie gras and wash it all down with a B Positive martini."
We are trying to ascertain how to successfully evict the bat mommies and their bat babies into the cold, cruel world. Some window screen material has been placed over the entry point stapled just at the top so a door flap is created--they can push it out when leaving but cannot lift it to get back to their adorable offspring; apparently an exit ramp of a nylon stocking with the foot cut out will do the same trick. One Internet site has many patrons swearing to the efficacy of strobe lights--I guess it drives them...batty. Another suggestion is very loud noise. So, when we go up this weekend, I am bringing the Halloween strobe, a disco ball, and will blast some Bee Gee's music--with any luck, the bats will dance 'The Hustle' right out of the cabin.
©2011 Jana B Patrick
P.S. UPDATE: The screen worked--they have flown the coop!!!
love it--but wait til you see Dale's "flap" or lack there of...
ReplyDeleteb
Oh, this is gross! One of my least favorite critters. Karen W
ReplyDeleteWe had a bat IN our cabin!!!!! YUCK!!!! Dianne M
ReplyDeleteThanks for the laugh. It was much needed!
ReplyDeleteBetsy
And do we also need to bring protective head gear and armor as we fight them off? Steve
ReplyDeleteBridget, tell Dale the bats miss you and have been rumored to be swarming towards South Minneapolis...
ReplyDeleteYUK!!! We had one in our house earlier this summer! Scared the living b'gessuz out of me. Sam knocked the bat out WITH a bat!!! Seriously, though, you might want to call Sam since he does know some of the tricks of the exterminating trade! JL
ReplyDeleteWe have had bats before and last time we were at our cabin, there was a small pile of bat poop between our bedroom door and the laundry room door. Tom and Wilford hopefully plugged the space way up in the hallway ceiling that would take care of it. Not to be! So now Wilford has called a professional company to inspect the place because we have no foggy idea where they would be coming in and they are a profound nuisance, not to mention always triggering the alarm in the middle of the night. UGH. Anyway, your blog was spot on!! And now we'll have an item in the checkbook for "clearing out the bats", what a disgusting way to spend money. Jean
ReplyDeleteI opened the patio umbrella that had been closed for several days and they had taken up residence inside the closed umbrella. My friend Jim Block was visiting and came out with a BB gun on the deck when he heard me screaming. All this at about 2pm in the afternoon. Enough excitement to make a guy want a drink...(as if it takes something this radical to invoke us to drink!)
ReplyDelete