re: Mosquito Control. Has Anyone Else Here Used Bats?

Be careful. Bats tend to carry rabies. A woman recently died in the US from rabies after finding a bat in her bed. She didn't even know she had been bitten.

I watch them and I have no idea how I'd see if they are eating mosquitoes (which are way too small to possibly see being eaten by a bird in flight).

This board is full of anecdotal truths that are just wrong.

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The purple martin is an excellent example of a natural mosquito predator who's mosquito controlling ability has often been grossly exaggerated. Yes, they will and do eat mosquitoes but nowhere near the amount that would be needed to consider them effective at controlling mosquito populations. In a quote taken from the AMCA's page titled frequently asked questions, ornithologist James Hill founder of the Purple Martin Conservation Association (PMCA) writes, "The number of mosquitoes that martins eat is extremely insignificant, and they certainly don't control them. In-depth studies have shown that mosquitoes comprise no more than 0 to 3 percent of the diet of martins". In fact during daylight hours purple martins most often will feed on larger flying insects such as June bugs, moths, bees, butterflies, wasps, and unfortunately dragonflies, another natural mosquito predator. In the hours just before and after sunset is usually when mosquitoes are most active and during this time our friends the martins are usually feeding in the treetops, which puts them way above most mosquito activity.

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I have a martin house anyway, just because I like having them around.

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Yeah but then you have bats

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But you can get larger, stronger bats to feast on the original ones.

Are you willing to spend some money? I use a company called Mosquito Authority. It's about 1k for the year. They come to the house every 21 days. Don't ever see a mosquito and if/when I do, I call them out and they spray the next day and still come on their next scheduled day.

Stupid question probably, but do you have to buy the bats too?

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Bats tend to carry rabies. A woman recently died in the US from rabies after finding a bat in her bed. She didn't even know she had been bitten.

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Mosquitoes carry malaria and pesticides cause cancer. Sounds like certain death.

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Do you have to buy the bats?

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Nah. There's a large wooded area behind my house. I thought about doing this a couple of years ago when mosquitos were really bad and noticed some bats swooping down to my pool drinking water.at dusk every night.

I bought the bat house on Amazon last spring and put it up between the pool and the woods. I noticed a big increase in the number of bats and drastic decrease in mosquitos by early summer. They just showed up. I don't know how many but the house is supposed to hold 300. It looks pretty small but those little bastards are small, too.

I spent around a hundred bucks total and I don't have a mosquito problem anymore. Cheap solution and they're kinda fun to watch dart around.

I don't frick with it...at all. Not looking in it or touching it. It works so that's good enough for me.

Careful their guano can drive you insane