Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: The benefits of bats and other birds
While some may scoff, bats have benefits. You may not feel that way as you battle one inside your bedroom, however, before killing it, capture it and set it free. Then look for the place in the bats are coming in and seal it up!
A bat in the house? What to do by Wildlife Removal USA.
Let’s talk about what bats DO do… not what you’re thinking! This is the good stuff about bats.
- North American species prefer to dine on insect pests, particularly bloodsucking mosquitoes.
- A single bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquito-sized insects every hour, usually eating 6,000 to 8,000 insects each night.
- One bat house can hold 25 bats. That’s more than 150,000 insects eaten every night!
How awesome is that! A mosquito eating machine sounds like a pretty good idea to me.
More on bats from the Natural Resources Research Institute
How about building them their own home OUTSIDE of your home? Resources for plans:
There’s another benefit, they’re great nighttime pollinators for your garden. Since bats are threatened with extinction, adding them to your garden is good environmental stewardship. While bats eat thousands of mosquitoes, many birds will eat mosquitoes, too.
Other voracious ‘squiter eaters:
- barn swallows
- purple martins
- robins
- chickadees
- nuthatches
- woodpeckers
Attract more bug eaters by installing bird houses, filling feeders with a variety of seed, supplying a clean source of water and planting flowers and trees that supply food and shelter. And stop using chemicals. Hmmm, great gift ideas!
