Bats | Biological Pest Control Using Natural Predators
Going batty can be a great way to help control unwanted insect pests. Bats eat mosquitoes as about 10 percent of their overall diet, and a lot of other annoying insects as well, including the moths that are the adults of the infamous “bole weevil” and “corn ear worm”. Bats consume from about 60 to 90 percent of their body mass per night.
Some argue that bats are not effective as mosquito control, since they only consume about 10 percent as a part of their diet, and that bats and birds can only consume a small part of the millions of insects. The argument also states that insect populations increase at a rate so high that no purely physical means of dealing with them is effective.
To counter this argument, let me say this:
- If the mosquito populations are that high in an area, there are other factors that need to be dealt with, such as draining the swamp you are living in!
- That each mosquito removed from the population at large, is one less mosquito to bite you, one less potential disease hazard, and one less left to breed and carry on the species!
- That the numbers of bats should be commensurate with the mosquito population if this is used as a means of controlling them.
- That the use of biological controls such as birds and bats should be a single part of a much wider Integrated Pest Management system. No one I know who uses these control methods thinks that the use of bats is all that one need do to control mosquitoes.
As a part of our services we now offer custom bat houses, built and installed to your specific needs.
