Are bats considerd predators???

[DuckLover179]

We have bats in our area, I hear them by my window at night. The adult duck enslosure is also right outside my window. So the enclosure is 10' X 6' X 6', it has stall mats on the ground (the stall mats are on cement so no digging.), it has hard plastic netting accross the top, with a tarp on top of that. The sides are chainlink with the slats I ran through them. Inside it has a dog house, and a kiddy pool. The bats seem friendly, and haven't harmed anything, but my question is, if they see my pekins, would they be able to slip through the chainlink and get them???

Thanks!

 

[bluere11e]

Bats in general are NOT predators of anything other than bugs and fruit. There are, however, Vampire bats that do nothing more than slit a tiny hole in legs of napping animals and lap up the blood. There's an anticoagulant in the saliva that keeps blood from clotting, so the bat can continue to feed with out the flow stopping. There are accounts of cows and pigs bleeding to death from numerous vampire bat bites, but they are few and far between and primarily in South/Central america. None I know of in The US.
Be happy that you have bats, they are eating their weight in bugs nightly and those include disease carrying mosquitos..

 

[Ga Chicken Mom]

Sounds like Wattles and Puddles ( love their names) have a great setup. Bats eat bugs, lots and lots of bugs. They can carry rabies but that wouldn't be a threat to your ducks.

 

[The Duck ABC's]

I have a boat load of bats and love them. They only eat flying insects so no worries. The ducks are not at risk, but the bats are. My drake will eat them, if he could get one. I have seen him eating mice! My cat kills the mice, leaves them, and he eats them. Crazy duck. The only potential risk is that your ducks catch something from a bat. Bats can carry diseases, but this does not mean that they do. Anyway, never had a problem with the bats here so I don't worry to much.

 

[DuckLover179]

Okay thanks! I was hoping they wouldn't do anything to harm them.

No wonder we don't have mosquitos!

 

[dianaross77]

I'm putting up bat houses this spring to encourage the bats here. I have seen up to 6 at a time at dusk but I'd like to keep them closer. The kids and I get a kick out of watching them. And we hate mosquitoes so we need more bats!

 

[sourland]

Yes, good predators of mosquitoes and flying insects.