Who lives with Bats?
Discussion
Reassuring to hear others have them and don't seem to cause any bother.
ATG said:
If you want to get building work done that might disturb them, yes, there are a couple of hoops to jump through, but they're no big deal and rather simpler than trying to re-home them. You'll need a bat survey to find out what you've got and you'll need to do the work at a time of year that won't disturb them.
That's what I was reading about. Having a survey of them done and the work being timed specifically. We put up bat boxes and get some visiting now and again. I wanted to clean them out and re-attach as they rattle, so contracted the local bat society for advice. They were incredibly helpful on what the rules are, what's reasonable, how to know when they are not there and what to do. And they want to come round when they are next in residence to check their poo and do some detecting to verify the type. This was both very helpful and means I have something in writing that I can point at as expert advice if anyone complains about anything I do with the boxes.
Gary29 said:
What's the punishment for being ignorant and chucking a cat to live up there for a few weeks/months after all the survey said 'no bats'?
Hypothetically speaking of course. Not sure what issues bats cause, I quite like them.
I'm not sure how well the ignorant bit works in defence but otherwise it can be 6 months in prison. Hypothetically speaking of course. Not sure what issues bats cause, I quite like them.
eein said:
We put up bat boxes and get some visiting now and again. I wanted to clean them out and re-attach as they rattle, so contracted the local bat society for advice. They were incredibly helpful on what the rules are, what's reasonable, how to know when they are not there and what to do. And they want to come round when they are next in residence to check their poo and do some detecting to verify the type. This was both very helpful and means I have something in writing that I can point at as expert advice if anyone complains about anything I do with the boxes.
Certainly from the site I was reading, it seems they're very keen and very willing to help the bats obviously but also those who are housing them. We have Grey long-eared bats it would seem, managed to get a photo of one hanging from the roof. Unless he's a normal bat that's blessed with giant ears, the King Charles of bats perhaps haha.
For anyone who loves bats (like wot I do), there are several apps for phones which can analyse the ultrasonic squeaks and identify the species.
I’ve lived in three houses as an adult (now 53) and had bats in each one. Sadly my cats also liked bats and used to get the occasional one.
Watching bats at dusk is as good as watching swifts/house martens during the day.
I’ve lived in three houses as an adult (now 53) and had bats in each one. Sadly my cats also liked bats and used to get the occasional one.
Watching bats at dusk is as good as watching swifts/house martens during the day.
It’s always worth pointing out, that although very rare, some bats in the UK do carry rabies so be very careful if you end up handling one.
With a rural property I have unfortunately had issues with badgers, rabbits, rats, mice (wrecked the interior of one of my cars) and bats and it’s the bats that I am always wary of being around. It’s probably an unnecessary fear but it’s there no the less.
With a rural property I have unfortunately had issues with badgers, rabbits, rats, mice (wrecked the interior of one of my cars) and bats and it’s the bats that I am always wary of being around. It’s probably an unnecessary fear but it’s there no the less.
Squirrels are out biggest pain in the arse.
They ate the wiring to the bathroom down lighters. They ate the hoses between our gas cylinders and the plumbing for the kitchen stove. They ate the fuel line in our s
tty VW camper. They eat the strawberries growing in the garden.
In return I occasionally try to shoot them.
They ate the wiring to the bathroom down lighters. They ate the hoses between our gas cylinders and the plumbing for the kitchen stove. They ate the fuel line in our s
tty VW camper. They eat the strawberries growing in the garden. In return I occasionally try to shoot them.
I have a theory:
Bats are protected and if you have bats then you have to do all sorts of stuff and it creates all kinds of hassle.
So man with clipboard arrives and asks if you have bats? No, not here, never seen one.
So man with clip board goes away.
This is repeated country wide and they come to the conclusion that bats are seriously endangered.
So more restrictions occur if you have bats to protect them.
Meanwhile the UK's rural housing stock is teeming with the things.
If we are all just honest and say I have bats, then they'll realise we can co-exist just fine, and me going into the loft to get Christmas decorations out isn't going to cause an extinction event.
Do I have bats?
No sir.
Bats are protected and if you have bats then you have to do all sorts of stuff and it creates all kinds of hassle.
So man with clipboard arrives and asks if you have bats? No, not here, never seen one.
So man with clip board goes away.
This is repeated country wide and they come to the conclusion that bats are seriously endangered.
So more restrictions occur if you have bats to protect them.
Meanwhile the UK's rural housing stock is teeming with the things.
If we are all just honest and say I have bats, then they'll realise we can co-exist just fine, and me going into the loft to get Christmas decorations out isn't going to cause an extinction event.
Do I have bats?
No sir.
ATG said:
We've got bats. I don't know why anyone would choose to try to get rid of them. They don't cause any problems. It's not like having squirrels, mice or rats in the loft.
If you want to get building work done that might disturb them, yes, there are a couple of hoops to jump through, but they're no big deal and rather simpler than trying to re-home them. You'll need a bat survey to find out what you've got and you'll need to do the work at a time of year that won't disturb them.
I guess you could just claim that you didn’t know you had them and use the survey to hide behind? We had them in our last home, loved watching them fly around at dusk but had to pick a dead one out of the kitchen sink plug hole one morning, poor thing must’ve thought it was the way out. If you want to get building work done that might disturb them, yes, there are a couple of hoops to jump through, but they're no big deal and rather simpler than trying to re-home them. You'll need a bat survey to find out what you've got and you'll need to do the work at a time of year that won't disturb them.
We have a maternity roost of common pipistrelles in the roof space. We treat them as honoured guests and they have never been any trouble, except that occasionally they would find themselves in the house with no idea of how to get out. I have become quite adept at catching them unharmed and releasing them, using a batcatcher contraption I made.
Recently though, I found and closed what appeared to be the gap around the boiler flue where they got in and we haven't had any in the house this year.
That might change when the pups start getting more adventurous.
They live above the laundry during the pupping season and have a good old chitchat among themselves.
We hand raised a foundling pup from the size of my thumbnail to near adult size. He thrived well and bonded with us (and we with him) until we took him to a rehabilitation centre to complete his education. I taught him to fly somehow, although his landing technique was a bit shaky, but I couldn't devise a way to teach him to hunt so off he went to bat University.
I'll never forget Roy - a beautiful boy and one of my proudest achievements. His picture is still on my wall.
By the way, of the 18 species of bats known in the UK, one of which is migratory and doesn't breed here, I believe only one (which I think is confined to the South West of England) is known to carry a virus resembling rabies. And you would be staggeringly unlucky to be infected as they can't bite a human hard enough to penetrate the skin. They are insectivores and have tiny teeth.
I made a bat-house from offcuts of untreated wood last year but they missed out because a family of sparrows found it first,
Recently though, I found and closed what appeared to be the gap around the boiler flue where they got in and we haven't had any in the house this year.
That might change when the pups start getting more adventurous.
They live above the laundry during the pupping season and have a good old chitchat among themselves.
We hand raised a foundling pup from the size of my thumbnail to near adult size. He thrived well and bonded with us (and we with him) until we took him to a rehabilitation centre to complete his education. I taught him to fly somehow, although his landing technique was a bit shaky, but I couldn't devise a way to teach him to hunt so off he went to bat University.
I'll never forget Roy - a beautiful boy and one of my proudest achievements. His picture is still on my wall.
By the way, of the 18 species of bats known in the UK, one of which is migratory and doesn't breed here, I believe only one (which I think is confined to the South West of England) is known to carry a virus resembling rabies. And you would be staggeringly unlucky to be infected as they can't bite a human hard enough to penetrate the skin. They are insectivores and have tiny teeth.
I made a bat-house from offcuts of untreated wood last year but they missed out because a family of sparrows found it first,
Well, it looks like I spoke too soon.
We have another little foundling.
Mrs 404s cat appeared in the dining room with it as I was finishing my breakfast.
At first I thought it was a bit of debris from the giant begonia that she pruned rather severely a week or so ago, until it started crawling around.
I confiscated it from the cat and left it in a box with a warm towel and sprinted out to the supermarket to buy a carton of goat's milk and a hot water bottle. When I got home Mrs 404 was showered and dressed and so it begins. It's taking warmed milk with considerable gusto.
The little creature seems pretty perky and doesn't seem to have been damaged by the cat, so perhaps he'll make it. Who knows?
It's not ready for weaning, but I'll get online and buy a box of live buffalo worms. Roy loved those things - he would eat them to a band playing.
(Sorry for the out of focus picture).
We have another little foundling.
Mrs 404s cat appeared in the dining room with it as I was finishing my breakfast.
At first I thought it was a bit of debris from the giant begonia that she pruned rather severely a week or so ago, until it started crawling around.
I confiscated it from the cat and left it in a box with a warm towel and sprinted out to the supermarket to buy a carton of goat's milk and a hot water bottle. When I got home Mrs 404 was showered and dressed and so it begins. It's taking warmed milk with considerable gusto.
The little creature seems pretty perky and doesn't seem to have been damaged by the cat, so perhaps he'll make it. Who knows?
It's not ready for weaning, but I'll get online and buy a box of live buffalo worms. Roy loved those things - he would eat them to a band playing.
(Sorry for the out of focus picture).
I thought bats were cute until the cat brought one in, and my one year old poked it and got bitten for her efforts. Turns out nhs standard operating procedure is to give the rabbies vaccine which to a one year old is unpleasant (and for the parents dealing with even less sleep than normal!).
So look but don't touch!
So look but don't touch!
ewanjp said:
I thought bats were cute until the cat brought one in, and my one year old poked it and got bitten for her efforts. Turns out nhs standard operating procedure is to give the rabbies vaccine which to a one year old is unpleasant (and for the parents dealing with even less sleep than normal!).
So look but don't touch!
I hear you, and the British Bat Conservation people agree with you. I'm sorry to hear your little girl was bitten, any idea what species of bat you had there? So look but don't touch!
But I believe it's extraordinarily rare for people to be bitten by bats in this country.
I've only ever handled Common Pipistrelles, Soprano Pipistrelles and one Lesser Long-eared bat and never been bitten by any.
Perhaps I'm too complacent, but I think the conservation people are rather over cautious in their advice personally. Not that that's a bad thing; they are quite right in terms of protecting both the bats and the public. Certainly when we were hand rearing Roy they were very interested but wouldn't publish any of our photographs because we weren't wearing gloves and masks.
We did try them, but Roy made it clear he didn't like them. And we never found a mask to fit him
Also, we are very conscientious about hand washing before and after handling.
Our new guest is definitely a boy. It's not hard to tell - they are rather generously equipped for such tiny creatures - but you have to flip the bat upside down to check.
This makes the bat a bit cross, which is pretty funny to see. He weighs about one gramme right now. I'm 60 thousand times his weight but he gave me a proper b
king!Nice thread to read. Being PH I did expect a few more posts along the lines of "stick some glue traps up and don't tell anyone" or similar as sometimes people on here can be quite inflexible when it comes to wildlife
I love bats, we see them nightly over the garden and a very small number sometimes roost in ours and our neighbours lofts. It's a pleasure to see them and they don't give us any issues. Fortunately the cats have never caught any either.
My friend runs a bat rescue and has handled many from various species so I've had a good chance to see them up close etc and they're fascinating things. I still enjoy sitting with a bat detector in the garden on a nice evening and listening to them honing in on moths.
I love bats, we see them nightly over the garden and a very small number sometimes roost in ours and our neighbours lofts. It's a pleasure to see them and they don't give us any issues. Fortunately the cats have never caught any either.
My friend runs a bat rescue and has handled many from various species so I've had a good chance to see them up close etc and they're fascinating things. I still enjoy sitting with a bat detector in the garden on a nice evening and listening to them honing in on moths.
We had a colony of breeding Pipistrelles in our roof, a couple of houses ago. About 80 according to the people who counted them, caused no problems at all. We used to count them annually and send the result to the Bat Conservancy people. Interesting to watch them in a summer evening, and they hibernate in the winter I believe.
2 GKC said:
I’m somewhat surprised they have the level of protection they do because they seem to be very common and pretty much everywhere
I wonder the same thing sometimes about gulls. Wretched brutes. I know someone who got twelve weeks at Her Majesty's pleasure for shooting them.
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