Take your pick: either bats or mosquitoes

Bats provide natural pest control by reducing the mosquito population.
& lt;a href=mailto:tullis@vindy.com & gt;By NANCY TULLIS & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- After evicting a colony of bats from his attic and replacing his slate roof with a shingled one, Scott Blattert noticed that his yard was no longer mosquito-free.
"The mosquitoes were terrible," he said. "We couldn't enjoy the summer nights in the back yard like we used to. At first I didn't know what happened, but then I realized we had mosquitoes because the bats were gone."
When the bats were evicted from Blattert's attic, they moved to a nearby barn. They then flew around the barn to feed, so mosquitoes returned to the area around Blattert's house.
Bats in North America provide natural pest control because they will greatly reduce the mosquito population of an area, Blattert said. Bats eat their weight in insects -- primarily mosquitoes -- each night. That can be about 5,000 to 10,000 mosquitoes per night for each bat, Blattert said.
Bats can carry rabies, and humans can contract a lung condition called histoplasmosis from contact with bat feces. Blattert said, however, that the benefit of a bat's ability to eradicate mosquitoes outweighs the other risks. He said humans have a far greater chance of contracting West Nile virus from mosquitoes than being infected with rabies because of a bat.
All about bats
Blattert said Hollywood horror movies have given bats a bad reputation. There are 40 species of bats, and all 40 can be found in Brazil. There are 11 species in the eastern United States.
The little brown bat, big brown bat and red bat are the species most likely to be found in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys. The little brown bat is the most common, he said.
"We don't have any vampire bats here," Blattert said. "They're in Brazil."
Bats native to the Mahoning and Shenango valleys enjoy a steady diet of mosquitoes, Blattert said. Residents can find bats in flight from dusk to dawn.
Blattert said bats use echolocation to locate food. He said "bat technology" is so refined, a bat can distinguish between an insect it wants to eat and one it doesn't from quite a distance away. Bats only feed when they are flying, he noted.
He said bats can distinguish tiny details of an insect or avoid crashing into a building or the side of a mountain in total darkness.
"A lot of people don't like bats because they're afraid they're going to attack and get in their hair, but that's just a myth," Blattert said. "If you are standing in your yard on a warm summer night, you're attracting mosquitoes. Bats will fly around you because that's where the mosquitoes are."
Making them at home
Blattert said homeowners, farmers, gardeners -- anyone who would prefer a natural pest control to use of chemical repellents -- would find bat houses beneficial. Bat houses can be built to house a few bats or thousands, he said.
A good bat house to start attracting bats would be one that houses about 20 to 30 bats, he said. If the bats are found to be hanging on the outside of the house, that probably means another bat house or a larger one is needed.
A bat house is similar in construction to a bird or butterfly house, but is vented on the top and open at the bottom. The inside should be rough so the bats can hang on, he said. Bats hang upside down and hang onto a surface with their feet, he said.
Bat houses should be about 10 feet off the ground or higher to discourage predators.
Bats migrate in the late fall and imprint on an area the way birds do, Blattert said. Most bats will migrate to Brazil for the winter. They are social animals and travel in swarms.
Bats mate in the fall but the females will hold viable sperm through the winter, and impregnate themselves in the spring when they return from migration, Blattert said. Returning from migration, they are seeking a maternity house. They are looking for a high, dry, warm area, so they find chimneys and abandoned buildings inviting.
Although bats are beneficial, they should be kept out of or removed from occupied buildings, Blattert said.
"Once you have bats, it takes some doing to move them out," he said. "They can get in through very small openings. With the slate roof, they will get in if any of them are loose. If you get the bats out and don't make the repairs, guaranteed, they'll be right back."
& lt;a href=mailto:tullis@vindy.com & gt;tullis@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;