The PG 13 Discussion

[ShadowHM]

... but, I found that building bat houses has been very effective.  In the fall I cover the outsides with some insulation to help them make it through the tough winters.

Bats are one of the better ways to minimize mosquito populations, although they do prefer other insects if available.

One of my best friends now has custody of her family cottage, which was converted by her grandfather in the 1940's from a boarding house, which was itself converted in the 1910's from a church. Her colony numbers in the thousands, and makes for a very nice bug-free zone around her deck. They have forborne killiing the colony, despite her fear of them. They have tried several times to convince the colony to re-locate, first building a bat condominium beside the boathouse, and then trying the lost cause of plugging the entry holes.

Her only real concerns are the few who accidently make their way into the cottage, most often in July when the youngsters are learning to forage on their own. She finds it particularly trying to make the trip to the toilet facilities in the night with bats swooping in the hallway.

There are a few other colonies on the bay. One is in the old one-room school house, now converted to a community centre. This one is a perfect location, as no one ever sleeps there. Others reside in a number of the older cottages and boathouses in the area. Unfortunately, as these places change hands the new owners often react with horror and kill the colony outright.

I have built a number of bathouses and placed them in what seemed to be appropriate locations about my property, but they have yet to attract inhabitants.

I am intrigued by your attempt to insulate the bathouses for winter residence. Do they actually stay? My friend's colony winters elsewhere, and only returns in early May each year. (It is rather obvious when they return.) The Bruce Peninsula features a lot of caves on the eastern side that we surmise are the winter digs of the colony for hibernation.

(No spell-checker here at my mother's Star Lake cottage, so I hope there are no major errors ;) )