Community Discussions

Here in Nova Scotia we have an unslaught of biting bugs that seem to hit every Spring.  (misquitoes, black flies, no seeums, etc..)  They seem especially bad since there's lots of wet, soggy ground for them to breed in.  Is there any way that any of you have found to 'scare' the biting bugs away.  They were so bad last night that they upset the bucket of soapy water Chris was using to wash the truck.  They were absolutely horrid!!!  Thick black clouds of biting fury, no swatting could keep them away.

Thanks for any advice that you can provide.

Sherri

Sherri

I've heard of putting up bat houses to attract bats who feed on mosquitos...not sure how good they are at eating other biting insects.  Also, depends on much you like bats. 

Paula

I'm going to have to see if I can get Chris to make a couple of bat houses, if that's all it takes to get rid of those damn bugs - so be it!

Sherri

Sherri,

Unfortunately with all the rain you've had, standing water spots have been created that will allow those mosquitos to multiply like crazy. Water filled tires, ditches, buckets, anything at all where water will sit is an idea place for them to lay eggs. The black flies like flowing water. What you need is some hot dry weather.

Bats are great bug eaters. They'll eat all kinds of night flyers. Another one is the purple Martin. I've seen at least one golf course with purple martin homes. Not sure, but they might like a high nest with open space around.

Too bad you couldn't make a nice habitat for dragon flies. They munch small biting bugs. Had my own personal one out camping once. Just sitting there and one landed beside me. Everytime a mosquito homed in on me, it took off and snagged it, then returned to park beside me again. Ate its fill and left. 

 

At work we have lots of dragon flies, they hang out around the lake, but home there's running water, but it's slow moving.  I don't know if we have purple martins here.  I would be happy to see the bugs being eaten up by anything.  Oh Windy one why don't you come and keep up the breezes to keep the flies down???

Sherri

INTERESTING FACTS ON PUPLE MARTINS

( I thought they ate mosquitos too).   

Purple Martins (Progne subis) are the largest member of the swallow family in North America, measuring 7 1/2 inches (19 cm) long and weighing 1.9 ounces (55 grams). Taxonomically they are placed in the Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Subphylum: Vertebrata; Class: Aves; Order: Passeriformes; and Family: Hirundinidae. Three races (subspecies) are recognized: Progne subis subis breeding in eastern North America and eastern Mexico; Progne subis hesperia breeding in the deserts of Arizona, western Mexico, and Baja California; and Progne subis arboricola breeding along the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada, and in the Rocky Mountains.

Purple Martins spend the non-breeding season in Brazil then migrate to North America to nest. East of the Rockies they are totally dependent on human-supplied housing. West of the Rockies and in the deserts they largely nest in their ancestral ways, in abandoned woodpecker nest cavities. In the Pacific northwest, Martins are beginning to use gourds and clusters of single-unit boxes for nesting.

The pair-bond of the Purple Martin is monogamous. The male and female cooperate equally in building the nest out of mud, grass and twigs. The female lays two to seven pure-white eggs at a rate of one egg per day. The female incubates the clutch for approximately fifteen days, then the young hatch. The parents both feed the young continuously for a period of 26-32 days until the young fledge. The young continue to be dependent on their parents for food and training for an additional one to two weeks after fledging. It's not uncommon for the fledglings to return to their human-supplied housing at night to sleep during this period. (Click to see an animation of the growth of a nestling purple martin.)

Martins, like all swallows, are aerial insectivores. They eat only flying insects, which they catch in flight. Their diet is diverse, including dragonflies, damselflies, flies, midges, mayflies, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, June bugs, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, bees, wasps, flying ants, and ballooning spiders. Martins are not however, prodigious consumers of mosquitos as is so often claimed by companies that manufacture martin housing. An intensive 7-year diet study conducted at PMCA headquarters in Edinboro, PA, failed to find a single mosquito among the 500 diet samples collected from parent martins bringing beakfuls of insects to their young. The samples were collected from martins during all hours of the day, all season long, and in numerous habitats, including mosquito-infested ones. Purple Martins and freshwater mosquitoes rarely ever cross paths. Martins are daytime feeders, and feed high in the sky; mosquitoes, on the other hand, stay low in damp places during daylight hours, or only come out at night. Since Purple Martins feed only on flying insects, they are extremely vulnerable to starvation during extended periods of cool and/or rainy weather.

Smart dragonfly....smart enough not to go for the great big pest....just wait for all the small pests to congregate. 

Okay now seeing the growing cycle of a purple martin - I'm sure that I haven't seen any.  I am however going to find out which trees Chris isn't going to cut down and figure out how to make bird houses.  Small ones, medium sized ones, and large ones...they can't be that hard to make.  I'm real good with a needle and thread - so how hard can it be for a hammer and nails???  Hopefully my housing will attract bug eating birds.

Sherri

Marshall,

That's interesting. I was always believe the purple martin ate mosquitos.  The golf course thought they did. Sounds like you don't want them since they eat dragon flies.

Sherri,

Bats are probably your best choice. You can google for ideas on how to make homes, but they are simple and I don't think bats are too fussy about whether you sew them nice duvets or couch covers.
Sorry, I don't make enough of a breeze to keep them away. They don't go after me as much as they do other people, except when they are real hungry.

And like typical females they are out for all the blood they can drain from you.

Paula,

"Smart dragonfly....smart enough not to go for the great big pest....just wait for all the small pests to congregate.."

Yes, and they were still waiting for you to show up the next day, but you didn't.

Marshall,

Martins are not however, prodigious consumers of mosquitos 

I bet  the martins stocked their cupboards with mosquitos and ate them after the nosy researchers left. 

Highwind wrote:

THAT'S GOT TO BE IT!

Windy, I could have sworn they ate mosquitos. My grandparents were purple martin lovers, they had five of the very tall houses, etc. I would sit and watch the martins fly around and eat, I was always under the impression much of their diet was mosquitos.

Marshall,

We should always keep in mind one of the basic laws of scientific research:

"Any organism, when observed under rigidly controlled conditions of temperature, light, pressure, water, and subjected to controlled stimuli, will do as it darn well pleases."

Actually, that sounds like how Paula reacts to other folks postings on here. Sort of uncontrollable.
<right back at you short block >>

http://www.batconservation.org/content/bathouse/buildyourown.htm

This is the first set of instructions I've looked at.  Not real good with anything that requires thinking about numbers (maybe I'll have to send you my dimensions Highwind).  Maybe I'll stick to making them some curtains for the windows and pretty cushion covers to rest their weary head on after a hard nights bug eating.   I think I'm going buggy.

Sherri

Highwind wrote:
Watch out Wind, I think Paula likes controlled stimuli. 

Sherri,

Here are some more detailed plans for a single chamber home:

Bat house

There are other links on this page to some other designs for multichamber ones, but they all seem to have the same basic design:

Bat house plans

Marshall wrote:
Actually, I think Paula likes to control her stimuli...or any other guy that gets near her.

Oh sure...walk away from your desk for a minute and see what happens?

As to my stimuli....lets just it stays as stimulated as it wants to be. 

MissSnowshoveler wrote:

Okay, please do send your dimensions. Don't forget the picture. And if you want send the measurements for the bat house too.

Ohhhh boy...e-abbysguides here we go!!! Start the bidding.

Uh oh....Windy is having delusions of grandeur again....

Sherri

Might want to think about putting little mini treadmills in there for the bats....after eating that many bugs they are going to need to work off some poundage....maybe they can get some tips from the Numbnuts ladies? 

Paula wrote:

Not true Paula. I only have delusions of barely being adequate. Besides how could I have delusions of the Grand Canyon when I've never seen it?

Highwind wrote:

    .... aww....I just can't.....  

I researched this thoroughly two years ago.  Bats do kill mosquitos but not necessarly where you want them too, your property.  They also carry rabies and they don't have to bite you simply run into you as rabies is unique in it's ability to spread via ALL bodily fluids including saliva and sweat off of the bat.  If you make contact with a bat you are automatically getting a rabies inoculation and it is VERY expensive and not pleasant either.  I know first hand as I give the shots and have more times than I care to count over the years. 

There is only one thing that has been proven to work and the only reason I don't have one yet is cost though they get cheaper every year.

http://www.mosquito-control-superstore.com/

(Sorry you have to cut and paste the link into your browser, I still can't get this system to make the link for me where you simply click on it....)

There are many brands and they all work well and are good for an acre of area per unit and they kill mosquitos, black flys and no see-ums and you can get them just about anywhere now here in the states.

Bats are cool no doubt, just be aware of the drawbacks...

C

MissSnowshoveler wrote:
Sherri, that has to be miserable. Sounds like they stand up and growl at you too. I hope you find relief but unfortunately when they are that bad, I fear not much is going to rid them to your liking. Maybe what Chris posted will help enough to make it better.

Thats right....I had forgotten about those machines.  In our old neighborhood which was very wooded with a marshy area sitting behind it, a neighbor had bought one and it worked fantastic. 

However, as Marshall stated, considering how bad they are, it may not be enough. 

I'm devistated by this!!!  The rent just went up on my Martin house!!   Seriously now I doubt I will clean and maintain anymore.  On a good not my bathouse has confirmed bats for its 4th straight year!!  Hip hip hooray!!!  Also mosquito magnet seems to be working as well.

ChrisS wrote:

I never thought of the rabies.  That would kinda suck.  But we have about 4 acres here and there is swampy type land from one end to the other.  The bats would have been the cheaper route to go, some scrap lumber and a tree and we would have been set.  However I'm HATE needles, so...  With Chris doing a lot of work in and around the wet areas in the woods I don't know if we could afford half of one of these machines - although it would be a good investment.  I can't stand those darn bugs to the extent I will stay inside and cover my head so I don't have to see or hear them.  The worst is when they find their way into the bedroom and you wake up to the buzz of a bug and you can't kill it 'cause you can't see it.  GRRRRRRRRRRRR!  Is their any other ideas out there?  I'm going to do some research on birds that are primarily bug eaters when I get chance today.

Sherri

Overall bats are safe and cool IMHO.  But rabies is a potential.  Here is a example of a patient I took care of.  Nice middle aged guy out for a ride in the early evening, he is a regular rider, rides as much as he can.  He is cruising along and the next thing he knows he is struck by a bat in the mouth.  He is shocked, un-injured and the bat just flys away.  Well he is a automatic rabies protocol, why? two reasons first we cannot catch the bat(s) to test them and second the LAST thing a bat wants to do is get close to a human.  You will hear folks say a bat came after me!!!, No, the bat was going after an insect near you.  Now if a bat really did go after a human it is automatically considered to have rabies due to it's unusual or bizarre behavior thus the rabies protocol is started.

This is a direct quote from a Department of Health Website:

"It is not uncommon for bats to appear in occupied dwellings, such as homes, apartments or camps. Evaluating potential human and domestic animal contact with a bat and capturing and retaining it for rabies testing, if necessary, is critical for the effective management of rabies exposures.

Among the 26 human rabies deaths that have occurred in the United States since 1990, 24 were linked to bat rabies. Of the 24 bat-associated fatalities, the majority of people were in close proximity to a bat without known contact. Among bats submitted to the NYS Department of Health Wadsworth Center Rabies Laboratory for testing, approximately 96% are not rabid; therefore, most of the time rabies postexposure treatment can be avoided when the bat is available for testing."

The problem is catching the little suckers after exposure and that is if you know you have been exposed.

I don't have that much land so my bat house was going to have to be within site of my home.  They also need to be in the sun for a part of the day to stay warm, etc.  There was a great website that had instructions on how to build them, were they needed to be vs the type of bat that lived in your area, etc.  I thought I saved it to my favorites but I cannot find it now but here is some info I found quickly.

http://www.maberrybat.com/batinfo.htm

http://members.aol.com/STOKESART/bat-homes.html

http://www.billbatboy.ca/billbatboy_homes.html

If I could put it away from the house enough I would still consider it you just have to have a good plan. 

C 

I see where a JFK flight was diverted to Halifax today Sherri.

Well, haven't had much chance to sit down and research birds and there has been bat house plans on the screen for some time now.  Just haven't had time to look at or print any out.  Since it stopped raining and the sun came out the people think they need to mow their lawns ASAP.

Maybe since there is 4 acres of land I'll get Chris to build a couple and put them down by the road on the far end of the property, that way the sun will hit them at some point in the day and they won't be close to the our house.

I guess I shall do some more searching while I have a few down seconds.

Sherri

With 24 cases of rabies deaths due to bats since 1990, I think I'll take my chances walking at 2 am in a bat cave, than the downtown area of any city at that time.

Better odds of being struck by lightning than being bit by a rabid bat.

Highwind wrote:

Yup, that is why I would still consider it.  It is a factor that you should be aware of though and these websites that tell you about houses do not mention that one albeit small risk and Rabies is essentially 100% fatal if you do not know you have been exposed and you develope symptoms.  Once you are aware it is too late.

People do get hit by lightning BTW, we just lost someone at a local Hot air Balloon fair around two or three years ago.  I listened to the ambulance's radio report as they took the poor guy to another local ED as I was at work at mine, he was talking at the seen and DOA as is the case as his internal organs were instantly cooked. 

Also there are no bats in a bat cave at 2AM.....

C 

Sherri

This may be small consolation but I did a search because I was concerned about West Nile and Malaria with the mosquito, etc. problem you are having and your area shows a very low to no incident rate of either.  So, at least, you don't have to worry about the swarm of insects carrying diseases. 

Swallows such as barn swallows, violet-green swallows, tree swallows, cliff swallows and bluebirds are good mosquito eaters. 

Wrens, bluebirds and tree swallows are the birds most commonly attracted to single-unit, enclosed bird houses.  Click on this link for more info on these birds: 

http://www.dccl.org/information/houses/birdhouses.htm

Paula

Testing...

Chris thinks he fixed the computer problem...

That was before I typed a lengthy reply to Paula...POOF into thin air it went...so let's try the abbreivated version.

We have a lot of birds - all feed at the feeders - not on the bugs.

I'm braving the outdoors a little today - if no one hears from me send a search party...I'll try to leave a trail.

Sherri