Bats, Friend or Foe

With me there always seem to be something happening to me that I am not happy about dealing with. First I had the raccoons and now I have bats. I really don’t know the purpose of raccoons but at least they are no longer living in my attic. My new challenge I have recently discovered is a bat has decided to take up residence on my covered deck.

My first instinct was to find a way to get rid of it. Just the thought of a bat on my house made my skin crawl. I knew nothing of bats. I just knew I did not want to share my property with a bat. They are icky and kind of scary.

My sister did some research and found that you can purchase a repellent to keep the bats away. I decided to do a little research myself before I charted on a course of action. My whole objective was to get rid of the bat, not get bitten, or have the bat enter my house. This would have had its own challenges. Anyway this is what I found out.

Bats have a purpose. As long as the bats are not in your house they are great for eating pesky insects. I wondered why recently there wasn’t as much wasps and mosquitos flying around. Apparently bats love insects. In fact farmers love when there is a colony of bats around when they grow their crops. There is a reduced need for pesticides when the bats are there to eat all the insects that pesticides kill.

When I was telling a friend of mine that I had a bat taking up residence at my house, she immediately said don’t get rid of it. She started telling me all the things that I had just learned by googling bats. I decided to make peace with the notion of the bat and so I have named my bat George. Unfortunately like most rodents I now have a new job to clean up after him. At least it is easier than cleaning up after a raccoon.

So if you are thinking whether your bat or bats are friend or foe, trying learning a little more about the potential benefits and you may have a new friend like me. Word of caution, I really am not going anywhere near him. I don’t want to take a chance and disturb the little guy and end up getting bitten. Just food for thought until next time.