This is the SE end of my front porch. At least the top part of it.
Look more familiar now?
Oh wait what is that at the top. Chinking ?
Nope. Not cabin chinking but garden burlap dipped in peppermint essential oil.
Scratching your head “Boy this gal has lost her mind. Poor dear.”
Let me share my morning coffee on the porch. Coffee check, cinnamon toast check , glasses check and phone. About half way through coffee whoa Nellie what is all over that end of the porch? If those are mice they are big poopers . Just so happens a few days ago I was scanning an article about how many folks think they have mice but on closer inspection you realize not rodent poop but the darling of the fertilizer world quano more specifically bat quano.
There are days I adore my iPhone not many but this was one of them. I learned today that bats aren’t crazy about eucalyptus oil. Frantic search of soap making EO stock yikes all out. However recalling another article that said mice and bats share some preferences. So with a backlog of info fighting mice in my barns I grabbed the bottle of peppermint EO. Added it to a dilution of about 1:10 with water in my garden sprayer and marched back to the porch hollering “it is Evac time 🦇.”
It began slowly. Then in earnest they came large , small young, and old. By the time total Evac was achieved I felt at least 100 numbered this colony. One of the young ones got a tiny wing caught between two porch boards. I worked gently with the soft end of a broom to help free it. I relocated a few of all sizes who were too stressed to leave on wing to a darker cooler area to wait out the day. My goal was to move them out not kill them. Yes bats can transmit disease but my goal was to discourage them from colonizing on my porch. Also they are very helpful in many ways.
I have had a long list since I moved in that includes bat boxes . After this morning that will be sooner than later. The burlap is a stop gap measure and may not work . But until I can get another body up here it is all I can do. Ultimately I may need to get a snap board in place plus the bat boxes we should be good.
Oh the other post? Next time soon and I mean in the next day or two. Pinky swear 🙃
Oh the other post? Next time soon and I mean in the next day or two. Pinky swear 🙃
6 comments:
Yep, we frequently see bats flitting through the air 'round about dusk. What are they doing? Catching enough biting bugs to make them worth their weight in gold! At various times, we've had bat houses up to entice the little critters to stick around for that very reason. But I can surely see why you don't want them colonizing up in that corner of your porch. Bat poop is probably not the best thing to have littering the porch floor!
It was amazing! We didn’t have a problem in Shasta except for the occasional squatter who slipped in un noticed at night.
Crossing my fingers 😊
Wow, good sleuthing! And what a great solution to the problem. It worked without poisons and killing a bunch of bats. A very interesting post.
Thanks Leigh. I didn’t read the entire Nancy Drew series just for grins and giggles 😂
It is always interesting to me the commonalities between species. Seems in every kingdom there are species specific similarities. Except maybe those far out species such as felines and the chicken branch of the avian community.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Oh goodness! Bats are definitely helpful to the environment, but they do need their own home (other than your porch!).
Agreed!
They are amazing creatures and often more helpful than not.
They have left and not returned since last Sunday. Deep breath perhaps it was just a unplanned swarm .
Time to start on the bat boxes.
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