# Do Bats Eat Bees?



## athiker

Not a problem. The bats are nocturnal and are out feeding while the bees are snug in the hive. You are going to bee a great beekeeper! Love, Dad


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## Michael Bush

I've had bats everywhere I've lived and never had a problem. The bees aren't out at night and the bats aren't out in the day.


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## wayacoyote

Cheryl,
I won't repeat what everyone has told you, which is true here in the USA. There are some diurnal (daytime active) fruit-eatting bats, but they won't bother your bees unless your bees are dressed like kiwi fruit and smelling of strawberries. 
I just wanted to complement you on your bat houses. I finally moved to where I can have my own bat houses and everyone asks me, "why do you want to make a house for them?" This gives me the oportunity to educate people on a few issues. 1)Bats are supposed to be here just as daisies and butterflies are, 2) bats are highly beneficial (if their lives need to be justified) by, as you know, eatting mosquitos and other "pest" insects, and 3) with man's behavior of altering the environment, we have a tendancy to reduce the natural living quarters of bats. 

If more habitat were provided for bats and other insect predators, less agricultural chemicals would need to be used >>>> less chance of our bees being poisoned. Hmmm, bats are good for Beekeepers!!!!

I encourage you to look at the Bat Conservation International website. I hope you and your family will be interested in helping out in the "bat house research project". Koodo's to you.
Coyote


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## mattoleriver

Every summer I will end up with a bat inside my house at least once. Maybe it is because of the bats that I am able to leave the doors wide open and not be eaten alive by bugs. I would like to encourage bats to occupy my neighborhood but I find them to be a little too creepy to actually want them in the house! I have not heard of any problems with bats here in Oregon, however, in Washington some have been found with rabies. Now, that's really creepy.
George


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## wayacoyote

George,
True, as most people enjoy to point out, bats do carry rabies. However, so do many other mammals. Where I live in AL, rabies is a problem with everything from racoons to dogs and cats, however, even here, it has been determined that less than 1/100 of a percent of bats carry rabies. It appears that the bats that are often "found" have died from rabies and that is the reason that they were "found" as they were. And of course, "Healthy bat with No Illnesses Whatsoever Found in the Middle of the Forest" doesn't really make the news. 

Of course, I would encourage anyone to leave the job of removing a bat from the house to a professional. I find that a good-sized fish net is convient for capturing those. I am also vaccinated for rabies so that I can work with wild mammals.


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## Michael Bush

>And of course, "Healthy bat with No Illnesses Whatsoever Found in the Middle of the Forest" doesn't really make the news. 

And of course a healthy bet with no illnesses whatsoever is usually not even noticed let alone found. They are only flying at night and hiding in the day.

If you see a bat out in the daytime crawling around on the ground there is a good chance it IS diseased. If you find it in an attic or a hollow tree or a cave, it's probably trying to sleep.


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## oregonbeekeeper

As a biologist, I feel compelled to tell everyone that yes, most bats in the US carry rabbies. The good news is that unless your flying over a stream or pond at night and you are exceptionaly small you are not going to get bit by one. 

If you find a bat in the house, take a deep breath, put some some heavy gloves on and grab him gently yet firmly and put him outside. If you want to make a bat house to keep your mosquito counts down you can find plans at http://www.bats.org.uk/batinfo/batbox.htm 

I was a beekeeper in the philippines and we had tons of bats but the real problem was the swifts (a small bird species). They would swarm to the apiary during the day and actually cause quite a bit of damage.

So in short, bats have rabies but they are our friends. They make look scary but all they really are is mice with specialized front legs that act like wings. If you can get your hands on one without soiling yourself you will be quite fascinated by them.


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## denise_ky

My neighbor made me a bat box for my birthday a couple of years ago which I have not hung up yet. He painted the inside of it black--I've heard the inside should not be painted--and he painted the outside a light blue--some left over paint he had. Do I need to repaint it or since bats are "blind" will it really matter?
After reading this thread I'm encouraged to get the box hung up somewhere this spring.
Denise


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## mark williams

after you catch the blam thing's then what do you do with them? I have afew hundred that takes up at my house ever year,have tried everthing to get rid of them.


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## Michael Bush

>after you catch the blam thing's then what do you do with them? I have afew hundred that takes up at my house ever year,have tried everthing to get rid of them.

I haven't tried it, but I would buy one of those ultra sonic mice repellents. The ones at the farm stores are the best and most expensive, but I bet a bat would find it just as irritating, if not more, than a mouse.


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## CherGarr

Denise, you should check out the bat conservation website previously mentioned. I'm not sure about the inside but the outside color depends on where you live. The color is a climate control factor for the bats, absorbing heat and such.


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## wayacoyote

As I biologist, I feel compelled to inform everyone that bats are not like mice with wings. They are, in fact, very different from mice. They may be more closely similar to humans in their body structure. 

Bat Conservation International Website http://www.batcon.org/ 

Painting of bat houses: (just made two this week for myself). As CherGarr mentioned, the color of the outside is very important. It effects the temperatures inside the house, and for the most part, warmer is better. So much so, that black is the prefered color of bat houses in most places of the US. Also, location is important. As as you follow ChergGarr's advice, you will find placement recommendations on the BCI website.

And, NO, bats are not blind. They see as well as us in similar conditions.

Painting the inside: I spray a bit of black paint up into the entrances of each chamber to reduce the glare. It is better that the inside is DARK. 

Have Bats in the Belfrey? As with all of your household pests, the first order of business should include finding out where they come in and closing that. If they can't get in, they won't. Do this before they return this spring!! Simple as that. If they are already in your house, seal all entrances, and cover one with a large strip of mesh. Attach it to the house on all of its edges except the bottom. The bats should be able to climb down the mesh to get out, but not back up to get back in. 

[email protected]


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## denise_ky

Thanks for the info--I'll check out the site and guess I have a bit of painting to do.
Denise
PSersonally, I think bats are cute and fascinating. But so are mice...well, mice aren't fascinating--they're a nuisance.


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## wayacoyote

At the Fish and Wildlife Refuge, I work with, we have "bat watches" during the summer where we take visitors out to watch the bats fly. They may have something like that in your area. You may contact Rick Huffines at the Clarks River Wildlife Refuge (270) 527-5770 and see if there are any programs there to let you experience that.
WayaCoyote


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## mark williams

Bring them to my house,They can watch all they want.HEHE


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## oregonbeekeeper

> As I biologist, I feel compelled to inform everyone that bats are not like mice with wings. They are, in fact, very different from mice. They may be more closely similar to humans in their body structure. 


OK, perhaps I shouldn't have confused the non biologists out there with my mice reference. Yes, there body structure is closer to humans (at least our arms), and they have the amazing ability to slow down their metabolic rates to incredibly low rates (big reason they live so long) but when it comes down to it, unless you have a flying fox in your hand (which I have--both hands actually) the closest things the resemble is a mouse. Or perhaps a scarry hamster.


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## oregonbeekeeper

ooops, one last thing. If you put a bat box up it can take a LONG time for bats to inhabit it. 

Of course it depends on where you put it and what the population of local bats is.. but don't expect to install it on friday and have bats hanging in it by sunday. (several of mine have taken up to 3 years). I would say about 10 out of about the 75 that I have installed.

When there full though they are pretty cool!!


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## wayacoyote

>OK, perhaps I shouldn't have confused the non biologists out there with my mice reference. Yes, there body structure is closer to humans (at least our arms), and they have the amazing ability to slow down their metabolic rates to incredibly low rates (big reason they live so long) but when it comes down to it, unless you have a flying fox in your hand (which I have--both hands actually) the closest things the resemble is a mouse. Or perhaps a scarry hamster. 

Oregon... I am sorry but the "scarry hamster" made me laugh. I guess I am thinking of the Rabbit in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail. I hope you have plenty of Holy Handgrenades.

Wayacoyote


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## CherGarr

That's hysterical! Do the bats have "great big fangs"?


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## oregonbeekeeper

YES! bats can have huge fangs. 

When I worked as a biologist in the philippines I helped a friend of mine who was doing research on flying foxes I cant remember the genus sp. name but they are the largest bats in the world and eat fruit. In the evening they fly very high in the air and they look like seagulls with long slow wing beats. So one evening we went out to capture and put transmitters on a few. Using a mist net (think of a fishing net made from monofilament) that was suspended about 200 feet in the air we caught two of them and lowered the net to the ground. AS the net got bigger I was astounded by how big they were!! YIKES, their wingspan approached 4 feet. So you have to grab them with BOTH hands and untangle them from the net while not trying to get bit. They are hissing, and craning their necks to try and bite you and they have some of the scariest set of teeth you can possible imagine. He was bit on one occasion and the bat bit through his flannel shirt, a heavy pair of leather gloves and still punctured his hand with enough force that it bled for about 30 minutes.

So indeed, perhaps the best way to describe these bats would be the deadly rabbit from the holy grail.


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## wayacoyote

Moral of the story....
Look but don't touch....
and keep a Holy Handgrenad handy.








Wayacoyote


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## Guest

Bats are constant tenants in my barn, and
I let them be, as they let me be.

I've put up 3 of the "bat houses", but
our bats seem to like the rafters of
the barn better, so I leave them an open
exit at all times.

Back when I was a boy, we had bats in the
attic of the old victorian we lived in,
and one would get down into the house
about once a year due to the attic 
stairway door being left open.

We would wave brooms and mops back and
forth to create a "wall of moving objects" and slowly herd the bat (flying all the time, of course) towards the nearest door.

My "batting average" was pretty good.









If any of my bats have rabies, I've never
seen a dead one, and I've never see
them do more than flit around and dive
at bugs at dusk. They have yet to
bother the cats, the dog, or Prudence
The Wonder Pig, so I see no reason to
worry about them.

I've never seen bees flying as late as
the earliest that bats come out.


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## oregonbeekeeper

Bats carry rabbies but it does not kill them.

the bats in the barn and not the bat box is a common scenario, they are somewhat reluctant to start using the boxes..


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## RiethaCrafford

IOregonbeekeeper, you are talking a lot to RUBBISH, [B]"I feel compelled to tell everyone that yes, most bats in the US carry rabbies".....CRAP, most bats don't carry rabies, although they can. you, your dog cat and me are more likely to have rabies then bats, because we are on the ground and we are in constant contact with possibilities. Bats are up in the air or roosting and are less likely to have rabies. if the bat can't fly or out during the day, it means the bat is sick, but it does not mean it carries/have rabies.......STICK TO YOUR BEEKEEPING AND LEAVE THE BATS TO THE PEOPLE WHO KNOWS BETTER.

Yes rabies is high risk in USA, but so are all of us, dogs, cats, cattle, sheep, don't make bats the devil of all devils. BAT ARE GOOD TO KEEP AROUND YOUR HOME. USA has no vampire bats, only Central and South America 
[/B]



oregonbeekeeper said:


> As a biologist, I feel compelled to tell everyone that yes, most bats in the US carry rabbies. The good news is that unless your flying over a stream or pond at night and you are exceptionaly small you are not going to get bit by one.
> 
> If you find a bat in the house, take a deep breath, put some some heavy gloves on and grab him gently yet firmly and put him outside. If you want to make a bat house to keep your mosquito counts down you can find plans at http://www.bats.org.uk/batinfo/batbox.htm
> 
> I was a beekeeper in the philippines and we had tons of bats but the real problem was the swifts (a small bird species). They would swarm to the apiary during the day and actually cause quite a bit of damage.
> 
> So in short, bats have rabies but they are our friends. They make look scary but all they really are is mice with specialized front legs that act like wings. If you can get your hands on one without soiling yourself you will be quite fascinated by them.


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## Rader Sidetrack

Welcome to Beesource!

Perhaps you didn't realize that you just dragged a _*10 year old thread *_out of the depths!


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## RiethaCrafford

Hi there Graham, yes I do but it really get to me that people can be so ignorant and although it is 10yrs old everyday someone new read this rubbish. Bats are good and we need them and we don't need ignorant people to publish crap like this. I am feeding presently a mother daddy and 2 babies by hand because the owners of the house read this rubbish and now wont have a bat house after their home has been sealed off........in fact, they are being kept alive until their new home is up on the river banks on bee lava......(those that were removed from feral hives and just to many to box for the new hive) Rietha


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## gmcharlie

As a bioligist I want to tell you most bats carry rabies??? 
you need to check your credentials, While bats tend to have higher incedences than other mammals, in no area is "most" infected. 

In fact its a tiny percentage

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131133323.htm


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## RiethaCrafford

Rubbish, not even 0.1% of bats carry rabies, if they have rabies they die as do all other mammals .Biologist or not, go back to the field and see what is happening in the field......books mean nothing. It is a miss conception to say bats carry rabies. that they may have contracted the rabies virus, yes this is possible but less likely than your land walking animals, you included. bats feed on insects or fruit, but for the vampire bats or then the carnivorous bats that might contract it buy eating a rabbit mouse or rat......I am from Namibia, residing now in Johannesburg and in Namibia we have from time to time a very high percentage of Kuku and Gemsbok (both large antelope) and even cattle having rabies, but we don't go around and advocate that Kudu, Gemsbok and cattle are carrier of rabies. The problem with you guys from America is you always "rip the ass (hole) out of the chicken so to speak"....that means you get on the bandwagon not knowing what is happening in real life.

Psst, I think you did not read my post, I quoted this beekeeper from Oregon that he said bats carry rabies. I DO NOT AGREE, it is rubbish!!! 

Rietha





gmcharlie said:


> As a bioligist I want to tell you most bats carry rabies???
> you need to check your credentials, While bats tend to have higher incedences than other mammals, in no area is "most" infected.
> 
> In fact its a tiny percentage
> 
> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131133323.htm


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