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Discouraging bats

Hoddy

By Hoddy
in Wildlife/Nature/Environment

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woolybanana Newbie

woolybanana

Posted
Posted
Old bats can be fun or a nuisance, depending on viewpoint, of course. Are these left over from some festival or party many years ago or simply just looking for fun and entertainment or winter roosting?

I make no direct reference to any member of this forum as I am sure that none of them are bald mice!
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Chancer Newbie

Chancer

Posted
Posted

They can be smoked out but arent you interfering with a protected species?

One of my earliest childhood memories was the man from the council removing bats from the loft of our council house, I think that it must have marked me for it to remain.

Family outside watching the proceedings, guy inside with what I guess must have been a smoke bomb, another on a ladder at the gable end with a hammer, the lwan was carpetted with hundreds of dead bats, very sad [:(]

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andyh4 Newbie

andyh4

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Before trying to discourage these bats, the friends should consider that they eat roughly their own weight in insects every 3 days - that is a lot of insects.  They can consume over 1000 mosquitos in an hour and have a similar destructive attitude to insects that attack our plants.

 

They do however create a problem under their roosts - as your friends have found.

 

Rather than dissuade the bats, I would look to see if it would be possible to "collect" the droppings before they hit the floor or washing machine or whatever using some sort of tray or something similar.  The droppings can the be very effectively put on the garden as a fertiliser - and all for free from something that is helping keep down a plague of insects.

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WendyG Newbie

WendyG

Posted
Posted

The anti mice plug in little machines seem to discourage them without obviously doing them any harm.    The machine emits a sound which is not audible to humans but seems to dissuade rodents and encourages them to go elsewhere. 

Nobody wants to harm bats but their droppings are unpleasant in the wrong place.  Obviously in a laundry room it is also very unhygienic.

 

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YCCMB Newbie

YCCMB

Posted
Posted
I feel I should be able to help, in some way or another, or make some useful suggestion. Having been referred to as a discouraging bat (among other things) on many occasions, I feel an obligation.

But I have nothing useful to say.[:$]

(Perhaps Norman will be along shortly with a bon mot relating to my closing sentence above......[:D]  )

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Théière Newbie

Théière

Posted
Posted
[quote user="nomoss"]

I never knew "toilet" was a verb.

We live and learn[geek]

Puts me in mind of the deb. who said "Sh1t, mummy, I've got number two on my shoe!"[/quote]

Verb[edit]

toilet (third-person singular simple present toilets, present participle toileting, simple past and past participle toileted)

  1. (dated) To dress and groom oneself

  2. To use the toilet, or assist (a child etc) in using the toilet

Although I am not actually sure you have had a life other than as a pedant

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toilet

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nomoss Newbie

nomoss

Posted
Posted
[quote user="Théière"][quote user="nomoss"]

I never knew "toilet" was a verb.

We live and learn[geek]

Puts me in mind of the deb. who said "Sh1t, mummy, I've got number two on my shoe!"[/quote]

Verb[edit]

toilet (third-person singular simple present toilets, present participle toileting, simple past and past participle toileted)

  1. (dated) To dress and groom oneself

  2. To use the toilet, or assist (a child etc) in using the toilet

Although I am not actually sure you have had a life other than as a pedant

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toilet

[/quote]

 

How dainty[:D] - but who's the pedant?

 

 

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dwmcn Newbie

dwmcn

Posted
Posted

Hoddy,

There were bats flying in and out of the roof of the recreation/restaurant building of a campsite we stay at in Daglan in France. Everybody enjoyed watching them. I suggest your friend try the nearest belfry. They like bats.

David 

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ventodue Newbie

ventodue

Posted
Posted

[quote user="Hoddy"]Some friends who run a chambre 'hote have a few bats in their laundry room. They would like them to go away because they are making a mess, but would not consider killing them. Does anyone have any ideas please ? [/quote]

Hi Hoddy,

Ok, the serious stuff first ...[:D]

 

1.  All species of European bat are either rare, or with populations in decline or of unknown status. So, not surprisingly ...

 

2.  All 33 species of bat in France are protected by both national law, principally l’article L.411-1 du Code de l’Environnement and l’Arrêté du 23 avril 2007 ;  and by international agreements such as the Berne Convention, the Bonn Convention, and the European Habitats Directive.

 

In practice, it is the national legislation that is most relevant.  It specifically forbids:

 

a) « … la destruction, la mutilation, la capture ou l'enlèvement, la perturbation intentionnelle des animaux dans le milieu naturel »

 

b)  « … la destruction, l'altération ou la dégradation des sites de reproduction et des aires de repos des animaux ».

 

For more, go:

http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000649682

    

3.  In France, the principal agencies charged with bat protection are :

 

·              DIREN (Direction régionale de l’environnement)

·              ONF (Office National des Forêts), Réseau mammifères

·              ONCFS (Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage)

·              le groupe chiroptères de la SFEPM (Société Française pour l’Etude et la Protection des Mammifères), including le réseau SOS chauves-souris.  Go : http://www.sfepm.org/groupeChiropteres.htm.

 

Now the practical stuff [8-|]:

Even if bats are strongly protected, people are not expected to co-exist with them in their living space!  However, persuading individual bats to go live somewhere else can be more complicated than it might at first appear [8-)].  For one thing, it depends on the species, and also the time of year.  Now, I suspect what what your friend has is one of the small pipistrelle species.  These bats can find their way in thru the tiniest, tiniest of gaps, so small as to be virtually impossible to locate (note I said "virtually" impossible.  An experienced bat worker knows how to find them!).   On the other hand, while it's possible the bats may decide to continue to visit the laundry room, it's equally possible they may decide to move on of their own accord.

 

So, if your friend wants to do things properly and take some informed advice/assistance, I suggest your friend should contact his/her local groupe chiroptère (as mentioned above).   In the Dordogne, the contact person is listed as Christophe AUBERT,  tél : 05 53 81 39 57.  

HTH

Craig

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Rabbie Newbie

Rabbie

Posted
Posted
[quote user="nomoss"][quote user="Théière"][quote user="nomoss"]

I never knew "toilet" was a verb.

We live and learn[geek]

Puts me in mind of the deb. who said "Sh1t, mummy, I've got number two on my shoe!"[/quote]

Verb[edit]

toilet (third-person singular simple present toilets, present participle toileting, simple past and past participle toileted)

  1. (dated) To dress and groom oneself

  2. To use the toilet, or assist (a child etc) in using the toilet

Although I am not actually sure you have had a life other than as a pedant

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toilet

[/quote]

 

How dainty[:D] - but who's the pedant?

 

 

[/quote]As a fully paid-up member of the Pedants Union I would question if bats toilet. They defecate but I doubt if they go to a toilet to do so. But perhaps somebody knows different.[:D]

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