For a few weeks my husband and I cared for a group of rescued bats. We were bat sitting for a woman who rescued and rehabbed bats. She delivered the little guys in a mini camping tent. If you’ve ever been to a large sports store or Sam’s Club you may be familiar with the mini-camping tent displays. Apparently, when not used to entice you to buy a collapsible outback palace, these mini-tents function as bat rehabs. While we had the bats under our watchful care, we fed them mealworms from our gloved hands and made sure they had fresh, clean water. I don’t know if it was their broken wings, missing ears, or “special” toes but those little stinkers were cute!
Little Brown bat
I’ve always been interested in bats: their deadly guano, their sonar, their ability to eat copious amounts of insects- specifically mosquitoes. They pollinate night blooming plants and congregate en masse under a bridge in Austin, Texas educating and entrancing crowds of onlookers! I’ve read how beneficial they are to farmers keeping thousands of pounds of pesticides off of our fruits and veggies. So, to do our part we have decided to install a bat house.
I happened upon a sweet cedar bat abode at Circa on Allied Street (Full disclosure: I work at Circa a few days a week). So, for $9 (less with my employee discount, rock!) I had an awesome gift for my hubby and the bats. Aaron braved the salvaged extension ladder and mounted the new house onto the sunny side of our backyard studio.
Bat house installed on Southern exposure of backyard studio (it’s the black box)
As I wait for the bats to arrive I can already feel the tiny breezes as they swoop by to gobble up those beyond-irritating mosquitoes. And if any turn up injured I know a quality mini-tent rehab just down the road.
A perfect time for bats!
Any success with bat houses? Or tips on being hospitable to our bat visitors?