A batty visitor (literally) :)

[()relics]

we love the bats here too...but every year somewhere in the area a bat with rabies turns up...that is why we encourage them to stick to the trees and stay out of the barns...several years ago 1 of our shorthairs came back up to the house with a dead bat....just doing her retriever job...I called the vet...we took the dog and the bat in...sure enough it was rabid...the dog ,though she was up to date on her shots, was given several more for tetanus and an antibiotic....the vet said better safe than sorry...I don't think she was sure what to do...just another example of us encroaching on them...glad they are here durring the summer to eat some of the millions of bugs every night.

 

[EweSheep]

Is that a fruit bat? It does not look like a vampire bat.

I love bats but rarely I see them around here except for one time, it flew in the house and scared the beejesus out of us! Hubby threw a towel on the bat and took him right outside. He was fine. Funny you dont hear them fly, they are pretty silent. On the other hand my mother said I should have killed it because my DD was two at the time, sleeping, and I brushed her off like yeah right!

So how would I know if there are bats existing in my neighborhood? If there was one, there bound to be others.

 

[fowltemptress]

It's a Mexican free tail, and it's an insect eating bat. We live about 30 minutes away from Braken Cave outside of San Antonio, which is where the largest colony of these things is found, so it's fairly common to see them. The public schools around here routinely find bats in classrooms and hallways.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

So how do you encourage bats to your property? Is it a "if you build it they will come" sort of thing? I've been eyeing bat houses for a while, but we only have one bat that I've seen and it's at my neighbor's house (100 yards away).
I want bats!!!

 

[chilling in muscadine]

If they are native to your area than put up security lights like the ones you can get from your power company. The bats will show themselves around the lights going after the flying insects also going around the security lights. Its a totally awesome show watching them fly around after the insects!

As far as bat houses you will need to probably google that and get info what to do. IDK Good luck!