West Nile Virus and Bats  

Ha, this is really funny. Right below your discussion topic appeared and ad for bat control and removal in Ontario and Quebec. www.leschauve-souris.com.
Anyway I think more people should put bat houses near their cottages or in their backyards. Bats are only harmful if you breathe in the dust from their droppings, say if you have bats in your attic.

I just love bats! The little ones are so cute and they are so fragile! We have bats around the house here and on occassion they get in the house. I like to sit outside at night and just watch them catch the bugs. I never could figure out why people are so afraid of them. I use to go to the zoo and my favorite Exhibit was the rain forest. I would just sit and watch the flying foxes.

I want to have a bat house when I own a home. I really like bats. I think they're cute, and they are really helpful to the environment. They eat a lot of pesky bugs, including mosquitoes.
Did you know that some rainforest plants depend on bats for their survival? The bats eat the fruit of the plants, and expel the seeds in their waste on the ground. The seeds can then grow and make new plants.
I honestly don't understand why people are afraid of bats. I know the whole thing about them having rabies, but you're more likely to get bitten by a rabid dog than a rabid bat.

Another new thing I have learned from myLot discussions. So many people concerned and interested in bats it is quite amazing. Even as an adult I enjoyed reading the children's book Stellaluna. A friend of mine called her chihuahua "Stellaluna" because her puppy's face reminded her of the illustrations in the book.

I know that bats are a good thing, but they just give me the creeps. Especiall since my husband actually was bitten by a rabid bat a couple of years ago. Since I had also touched the bat, we both had to go for rabies shots.

This is not the horrendous ordeal that it used to be. We each had 2 shots in the hips and then every tuesday and friday we had shots in the arm for 6 weeks.

It was just one of those freak accidents, but if we had not been pushed by a friend to see a doctor and bring the bat in for testing I would not be sitting here right now.

You have a window of 72 hours to get treatment or you will die from this disease.

Wow, thanks for the info. I'm not sure if there are bats in my area, cause I haven't seen any lately here. Most likely because I live on mostly flat land as far as the eye can see. I'll have to read up and see if there is a way to attract bats after putting out a bat house.

We bought a bat house, but have not yet put it up. My husband thinks bats are really neat, and no, he is not a vampire. I like most living creatures, but I would be delighted to have a colony of bats munching on mosquitoes in my yard.

I love to watch bats! We get them at night in our neighborhood on occassion. I didn't know there was such a thing as a bat house! I will certainly look into that. We are run over by mosquitos as we live beside a large field with hay and one end has standing water. The health department won't force the owner to put in drains as the owner had it declared a 'wet lands.' A bat house it is. The biggest, baddest bat house I can find! I want extended families of them!

We get a small flock of bats, and we love watching them, and are so grateful for their help in controlling the mosquito population. I am not sure where "our bats" are residing, maybe in the garage eaves? So, if we build some bat houses do you think they will find them and utilize them?
I will definitely have to talk about this with my beloved.
One morning we were taking the clothes off the line and as we grabbed the towel we startled one of the little fellows who had decided to spend the night(day?) within it!
Gave me a start! poor thing.

I know that bats are very helpful with keeping the mosquito population down, but I still get freaked out over them. When I watch a show that is about bats, I get the willies when I see someone picking them up or walking in cave loaded with them.