the above the fold story in the la crosse tribune says it like it is.
while i did know they are the reason we have so few bugs in our yard, i didn’t know each bat can eat up to 2,400 insects a night! and while we had been told that the bats do not stay over winter, that’s apparently only true for little brown bats, but i’m fairly certain that at least some of the bats in our chimney are big brown bats and they can live in the same place for 30 years! as we’ve learned, you tend to find more bats in your house in august , when the youngest bats are taking their first flights and mistakenly end up in the house.
and apparently we’re not alone, one bat expert estimated that at least 10 percent of home in la crosse have bats and he was fielding 50-75 calls a day from homeowners wanting them removed!
we haven’t had a bat in the house for five days! whoohoo! so i think we’re getting a lot better at finding the places they can get in. or maybe they’re just getting better at hiding 🙂